Thailand brought in troops and prisoners yesterday to kill millions of chickens in the hope of stopping the spread of highly contagious bird flu, which has jumped to humans in Vietnam and Thailand.

With most ordinary folk too scared to go anywhere near chickens, 400 soldiers were drafted into Suphan Buri province northwest of Bangkok, Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchop told reporters. A hundred prisoners were also brought in.

?We have had labour problems. It is difficult to find labourers as after the bird flu outbreak was confirmed, many of them are avoiding working on farms,? Newin said.

All chickens in the province, a major area of production in a Thai industry which raises one billion chickens a year and earns $1.5 billion in exports, will be killed.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra went to talk to worried farmers in the province yesterday, promising them compensation, help with starting up again once the epidemic was defeated and a suspension of their debts.

Thailand, which fears the disease and the import bans that have choked off overseas chicken sales will devastate its poultry industry, has been killing hens by tying them up in fertilizer sacks and burying them alive.

China became the latest country to ban imports of Thai chicken to try to stop the deadly disease spreading to the country where the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which scared the world, broke out last year.

The Beijing government, widely accused of covering up that outbreak for weeks, ordered that aircraft, ships or other vehicles carrying Thai chicken be sealed and cleaned.

The Thai government, fighting off allegations it covered up an outbreak of bird flu which the WHO fears could generate an epidemic worse than SARS, is promising swift and ruthless action.

But experts are wondering where it will emerge next after springing up in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Six people have died in Vietnam and two human cases have been confirmed in Thailand.

?There?s no denying the disease is spreading,? Anton Rychener, Vietnam representative for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, told Reuters.

Vietnam?s latest known human case was an eight-year-old girl in the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City.

Children appear most at risk ? five of Vietnam?s six dead and both Thailand?s were children ? but nobody knows why and the only comfort to experts at the moment is that all appeared to have contracted it from sick chickens.

Tests confirm the disease

The World Health Organization says if the avian virus combines with a human flu virus, the consequences could be devastating ? a new strain which could sweep through a human population with no immunity to it.

The main problem now is how to stop it spreading, with the WHO calling the near-simultaneous outbreaks in Asia ?historically unprecedented.? Thailand has invited senior health and agriculture officials from Asian countries and international agencies fighting the outbreak to a meeting to discuss such issues on Wednesday. It could come in for some private criticism at the session, Western officials say.

Bangkok denies trying to cover up bird flu while it said a sickness in chickens that emerged in November was poultry cholera. The government said it was suspicious for weeks but knew for certain only when tests confirmed the disease on Friday.

?The government never realized it was avian influenza before yesterday, but it was suspecting that it might be. That?s why some measures in extraordinary degrees had been put in place,? said chief government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair.

Thaksin was on the defense again yesterday, telling reporters that while the government was acting as if there had been a bird flu outbreak, it might have provoked panic if it had said so.

He also said chicken exports could resume to Japan and the European Union, Thailand?s biggest customers, within weeks, although the EU has said it could be months before they resume.

?I think we can solve the problem in Thailand within 30 days but for the negotiations with EU, our trading partner, it will probably take a bit longer than that, but not much,? he said.

Some have been unimpressed with government explanations for not letting the public know about the bird flu earlier.

Vissuta Pothong