The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday night called on Filipinos to cancel travel to Iraq due to heightened tensions following the assassination of top Iranian commander Qassim Suleimani in Baghdad.

In its travel notice, the DFA urged Filipinos "to cancel, until further notice, any travel to Iraq in view of the current situation in the country."

Filipinos in Iraq are "strongly advised to coordinate closely with the Philippine Embassy and their employers in the event mandatory evacuation will be necessary."

The embassy, it said, may be contacted at (+964) 781-606-6822; (+964) 751-616-7838; and (+964) 751-876-4665 or via email: baghdad.pe@dfa.gov.ph; and through its Facebook page: Philippine Embassy in Iraq.

The Philippines enforces voluntary repatriation for Filipinos in areas in Iraq except for the Iraqi Kurdistan region which remains under alert level 1 or precautionary phase.

A deployment ban of new workers and household workers to Iraq is in place.

In 2017 the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad said there are around 1,500 workers in Iraq, mostly working in the Kurdistan region.

Latest embassy figures say there are 450 undocumented and 1,190 undocumented Filipinos. More than half are in the Kurdistan region and 847 in Baghdad.

In Baghdad, many are working with the US and other foreign facilities along with commercial establishments. DMS