Indian veterinary officials are killing thousands of birds this week to try to control the country's latest outbreak of avian influenza.

Authorities said Thursday that about 44,000 birds will be killed in West Bengal state's Malda district.

An outbreak of the H5N1 virus has killed about 1,000 chickens in Malda in recent days.

West Bengal is struggling with recurrent bird flu infections.

Indian health workers cull birds at the village of Lalbagh, in Murshidabad district, 11 Mar 2008

About 50,000 birds were slaughtered earlier this month after an outbreak in Murshidabad district.

Another massive outbreak last January led to the slaughter of nearly four million chickens. The virus hit 13 of West Bengal's 19 districts and was considered India's worst bird flu outbreak.

No cases of human infection have been reported so far in India.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.