Banda Aceh, capital of Aceh Province in Indonesia, culled 109 chickens and ducks believed to be infected with bird flu Friday, the Jakarta Post Saturday quoted a senior government official as saying.

Earlier Thursday, mass death of poultry occurred in Banda Aceh and two other districts in the province. Infected areas were immediately isolated and all the birds - healthy and sick - were killed.

The poultry was slaughtered after a laboratory test showed that several of them had bird flu, the paper quoted Syamsuddin Ali, head of Banda Aceh Husbandry Office as saying.

However, farmers were initially resistant to the cull but agreed later after government officials stressed the gravity of the situation, he said.

Besides the cull, the office was planning to spray disinfectant at poultry farms in Lamdom, he added.

The emergence of bird flu could add to the local people's hardship, who witnessed the Dec. 26 tsunami that claimed more than 200,000 lives and destroyed 90 percent of the public infrastructure, according to local officials.

Bird flu has been found in 23 out of the country's 30 provinces and seven infected people died.

Source: Xinhua