HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam said two children who died of bird flu this month had tested positive for the H5N1 strain, bringing to three the number of fatalities from the latest outbreak of a virus that killed 24 people across Asia earlier this year.

"It is the H5N1 virus," said a doctor at the Hanoi Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology on Tuesday.

The institute´s initial finding had only discovered the presence of the H5 virus in the children from northern Ha Tay province and the N1 component was confirmed from more tests.