ANKARA, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Agriculture and Rural Affairs Ministry confirmed on Thursday that bird flu have been found in the southeast of the country, just over a year after four children were killed by the deadly H5N1 strain of disease in the region.

    The ministry said in a statement that bird flu have been found on Thursday in the village of Bogazkoy in the southeastern province of Batman, the private CNN-Turk television channel reported.

    A total of 170 poultry died from the disease which experts believed to be carried by wild birds, the report said. Experts were making tests to find out whether the virus was the deadly H5N1 strain.

    Authorities have imposed a 10-km quarantine of animals around the Bogazkoy and nearby villages, and decided to cull nearly 1,500chickens, ducks and turkeys in nearby area.

It is reported that three children in the area had been put under medical observation for suspected bird flu.

Last year, four children from the east of the country died from the H5N1 after coming into contact with chickens carrying the virus. Turkish authorities culled more than 1.3 million birds during the outbreaks.