JERUSALEM — Israeli officials today ordered tens of thousands of turkeys destroyed as they awaited final word on whether the country has experienced its first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

About 11,000 turkeys have died in recent days, and after preliminary tests, Health Minister Yaakov Edri said there was a "very high chance that this is avian flu."

No cases of human illness have been reported, Edri said.

The suspected outbreak originally was centered on the Negev Desert farming communities of Ein Hashlosha and Holit, but later spread to a farming community near Jerusalem.