Elections will be held in the Kurdistan Regional Government-administered region of northern Iraq on Sept. 30, Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw said on Tuesday, citing the region's prime minister Nechirvan Barzani.

Rudaw is close to the Kurdistan Regional Government based in Irbil. A federal Iraqi election is set to take place on Saturday.

With a population of about 5 million, Iraq's Kurdish region already enjoys a high degree of autonomy, including its own parliament and armed forces.

Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, relations with the central government in Baghdad have become strained over a range of issues, including the sharing of oil revenues and control of some areas, such as the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.