RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's agriculture ministry said on Wednesday that 216,000 birds have been culled or are in the process of being destroyed following the discovery of a new outbreak of bird flu.

In all nearly four million birds have now been culled since the first infection with the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease was detected on November 12.

"All necessary measures were taken to ... cull all birds" in the farm in the Al-Kharj region, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Riyadh, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

The ministry said 14 outbreaks of bird flu have been detected since November 12, including the latest among 216,000 birds.

The ministry announced a week ago that more than 3.5 million birds were culled or in the process of being destroyed.

It has singled out migrant birds as the source of the disease, and stressed again on Wednesday the need to refrain from hunting them.

Saudi Arabia banned all live poulty imports after bird flu was last detected in the kingdom in March. In April, neighbouring Kuwait culled 1.7 million birds after the strain was found.

There have been no reports of the disease spreading to humans in either country.

The H5N1 strain first emerged in Asia in 2003, and has caused some 205 deaths in humans, with Indonesia and Vietnam among the worst hit countries, according to World Health Organisation figures.