Northern Syrian cities near the border with Turkey took precautious measures to prevent the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus from crossing into the country, the official SANA news agency reported on Sunday.

In Qamishly, 775 km northeast of Damascus, police and the health department launched a campaign on Sunday to eradicate illegal markets selling birds and poultry.

All illegally traded birds were buried, mayor Gibrail Sabri Koru was quoted as saying, adding that the town's regular bird market was also shut down.

Meanwhile, in Hasaka, 707 km northeast of Damascus, the authorities sterilized all the cars and shoes of the incomers from Turkey during the holiday of Eid al-Adha (Greater Bairam), SANA said.

Syria shares a 490 km border with Turkey, which has witnessed a renewed outbreak of bird flu across the country after the first outbreak in the east was put under control last October.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has so far killed three siblings in Dogubeyazit in eastern Turkey among 19 human cases countrywide.

Source: Xinhua