Intelligence authorities are seeking emergency measures after receiving secret information on possible terrorist attacks against South Koreans working in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, the site of Seoul's pending troop dispatch.

Intelligence officials say they recently obtained what they called "credible information" that an al-Qaida-linked militant terrorist group in Iraq called Ansar al-Islam plans to attack South Koreans in the country's Kurdish region.

The officials said it has yet to determine the number and identities of South Korean workers in the specified area, which is governed by the Kurdistan regional government.

Currently, some 50 South Koreans are believed to be living in Iraq.