JAKARTA, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of chickens in Krajan villa, Bringin subdistrict, Semarang District in Indonesia's Central Java province, were culled due to bird flu (avian influenza) virus spreading in the area.

    Around 400 chickens were burned and then buried in an attempt to curb bird flu virus, Antara news agency reported on Saturday.

    The measure was taken following the death of tens of chickens earlier due to bird flu virus, the report said.

    The report quoted head of the Semarang animal husbandry and fishery office Agus Purwoko Djati as saying that a rapid kit test conducted by officers of the Participatory Disease Surveillance Response team had confirmed that the chickens had died of bird flu.

    To prevent the bird flu virus from spreading to wider areas, hundreds of chickens found surrounding the dead chickens were culled. Owners of the chickens received 10,000 rupiah (about 1.1 U.S. dollars) in compensation for each chicken that has to be killed.

    Indonesia is the hardest- hit country by bird flu in the world. One hundred and five people have died of bird flu in the country.