People celebrated Nowroz, the traditional Persian New Year, by carrying torches atop the Akre mountain in Iraq's northern region on Wednesday night.

Thousands of people, many wearing traditional Kurdish clothes, carried torches and shot fireworks as part of the annual celebration.

The Persian New Year is an ancient Zoroastrian tradition, that is also celebrated by Iranians and Kurds and coincides with the vernal (spring) equinox and is calculated by the solar calendar.

It symbolises the passing of the dark season and the arrival of the season of light.

The Zoroastrian community in India and Pakistan also celebrate the festival.