"Two protesters have died of bullet wounds. One was 19 and the other 40," the official told AFP.

Thousands of people took to the streets of several towns in Iraq's Kurdistan region on Saturday, urging its long-time president Massud Barzani to step down.

Scuffles broke out in Sulaimaniyah, a bastion of opposition to Barzani and his party, a day after two people were killed in a protest in another southern Kurdish town.