Iraq confirms second bird flu death

A second Iraqi Kurd has been confirmed to have died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain as international teams scrambled to combat the spread of the virus in the country's north.

Hamma Sur Abdullah, 40, who died of flu-like symptoms a little over a week after his niece, was confirmed by a lab in Cairo as having died of the same cause, a senior Kurdish health official said on Monday.

A few days after Abdullah's death, the World Health Organisation (WHO) lab confirmed his niece Shajin Abdel Qader had died of bird flu, galvanising an international response.