Israel’s agriculture ministry confirmed today that the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had spread to three locations in the Holy Land, where hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens were culled over the weekend.

About 11,000 turkeys have died in what Israeli officials suspect is the country’s first outbreak of the dangerous H5N1 strain of bird flu, and officials will decide within hours whether to destroy tens of thousands of other birds, they said today.

Israel’s agriculture minister today said the widespread death of turkeys at two communities in southern Israel could have been caused by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.