Mogadishu — Unprecedented Flocks of birds whose legs were tied with strings marked with Croatia has been seen in villages located in Somalia's Middle Shabelle province, central Somalia under the control of Union of Islamic Courts.

The news has emerged after the Courts administrators in central Somalia sent local medical experts to validate that large numbers of flocks of Croatian birds are in Somalia.

Residents said they fear that these birds, which they said looked like ducks, might carry diseases like bird flue with them.

Muhidin Abdi Farey, the Islamic Courts head for social affairs in El Baraf village, has told Shabelle Radio by the phone that the birds were seen for the first time on 14 November adding: "Days after they arrived in the village, they began to die. These birds had each of their legs tied with strings written in Croatia and they numbered approximately 50".

This is however the first time that such stray animals were seen in Somalia.

Despite the marking on each leg of these birds, the Union of Islamic Courts who sent expert to area have not yet announced any test results of what diseases these birds carry with them -if they investigated.

Dr. Abdulahi Hussein Moalim, the director of Jawhar hospital in Middle Shabelle province, merely told Shabelle that he and other experts went to the area, indicating that the birds were stray ones or got lost.

However, the question that remained asked by residents is: Why have the they begun dying?

Dr. Moalim said, "If the birds had had bird flue, already our local birds would have died in large numbers".

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