Malawi was on Friday hit with the country's major scare of bird flu after thousands of birds mysteriously died in a hill in the central district of Ntchisi, some 200 km east of the capital, Lilongwe, a senior agriculture official told journalists.

Malawi's Director of Livestock and Animal Health, Wilfred Lipita, said the government had sent tissue samples of birds to a laboratory in South Africa following the mysterious mass death of the birds.

"We are sending the samples from these birds to South Africa for analysis as South Africa is the only country in the Southern Africa that has labs to detect avian flu," he said.

Lipita said several thousands of the Fork-tailed Drongo started dropping dead in Mwera Hills in the district earlier this week.

He added that local people in the area started collecting the dead birds to eat before some people informed the police.

"We sent officials to caution the people not to eat them since the dead birds might have the avian flu which has proved deadly to humans in other countries," the agriculture official said.

Lipita said Malawi has not known case of avian flu but added that although birds sometimes drop dead from unknown causes it was very unusual for birds to die in thousands in a short time.

District Commissioner for Ntchisi, Daniel Phiri, told journalists that he suspected that the birds might have traveled from a long distance.

"One of the birds had a ring with inscription numbers and the word Israel," he told a local paper, The Nation, on Friday.

The Malawi government has since set up a task force for rapid response in case bird flu is confirmed in the country.

Meanwhile the government has issued a statement advising peopleto avoid eating birds found dead but to report such incidences to police or veterinary authorities for investigations.