(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-07 20:34

The strain of bird flu that caused a recent outbreak in Turkey is the deadly H5N1 type, confirming the spread of the killer virus to Europe's outer fringes, the European Commission said on Saturday.

"The European Commission has been informed that test results from the EU laboratory at Weybridge ... confirmed that the avian influenza virus, which has recently caused an outbreak in poultry in eastern Turkey, is a high pathogenic type H5N1," it said in a statement.

Three children from the same family in a remote rural district near Turkey's border with Armenia have now died from bird flu. Doctors are treating more than 20 other people, mostly youngsters, suspected of having the deadly virus.

Laboratory tests were continuing to clarify the epidemiological situation, the statement said. An international expert team was visiting the affected areas.

An EU ban on imports from Turkey of live birds and poultry products, imposed in October, would remain, it added.