DHAKA — The Bangladesh Army has vowed to stay away from politics and said it would only help the interim government restore democracy.

Army chief Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed told visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband the army was only helping the interim setup return to democracy.

Miliband told reporters later he was assured by the army chief that the military would stay away from politics and help the government pursue corruption cases against politicians without any discrimination. To a question, Miliband said Britain was monitoring the cases to see that the law is applied without any discrimination. He said Britain encouraged positive and constructive dialogue between the caretaker government and the political parties on building up democratic institutions in Bangladesh.

He did not back the idea of a national unity government and said it was important that democracy was restored. He said that after the elections, the winning party and the opposition could cooperate if they felt necessary.

Bird Flu Spreads

Bird flu has spread to another district despite efforts by authorities to contain it, taking the number of affected districts to 40, officials said yesterday.

Health workers culled nearly 12,000 fowls after tests confirmed some chickens had died from the avian influenza virus in the northeast, livestock officials said. The H5N1 virus, first detected in Bangladesh in March last year, was quickly brought under control through aggressive measures, including culling. But followup monitoring eased in later months prompting the disease to reappear, experts say.

So far, no human infections have been reported in Bangladesh, a densely populated nation with millions of backyard poultry and thousands of chicken farms.

The interim government has enhanced compensation for poultry farmers to encourage them to report and kill sick birds. More than half a million birds are to be culled across the country, but the virus has spread to more than half the South Asian country’s 64 districts partly due to a lack of awareness.

Media reports said many children were seen smiling and playing with dead poultry. Even health workers have been seen burying dead birds without any protective gear.

The World Health Organization worries that the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form that passes easily between humans and infect and kill millions.