Images shared by local media showed fields and forests that had caught fire in the area as well as charred vehicles and storefronts destroyed by the flames. The Bejaia prosecutor’s office has ordered a preliminary probe to identify the causes of the blazes and potential perpetrators, it said in a statement. “Civil protection services remain mobilised until the fires are completely extinguished,” it added. Operations were under way to extinguish fires in six provinces, the interior ministry said, calling on citizens to “avoid areas affected by the fires” and to report new blazes on toll-free phone numbers. A firefighter tries to extinguish a fire near the village of Zberber, Bouira province in the mountainous Kabyle region, Algeria Ībout 7,500 firefighters and 350 trucks aided by aerial support were battling to bring the flames under control across the country, authorities said, including in the Boumerdes, Tizi Ouzou, Jijel and Skikda regions. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune offered his condolences to the families of the victims, both civilians and security personnel. The three provinces in Algeria’s Mediterranean coastal region have seen the worst of the fires. The ministry said the fires forced the evacuation of some 1,500 people from the Bejaia, Bouira and Jijel provinces east of the capital Algiers. The fires killed at least 34 people, including 10 soldiers, as they raged through residential areas, the ministry said revising an earlier toll of 15 dead.Īccording to that initial toll, at least 26 people were also injured. The Algerian interior ministry said it recorded 97 blazes, fanned by fierce winds and extreme heat, across 16 provinces. The reports of the deaths came on Monday as temperatures hit 48 degrees Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) in parts of the North African country. Wildfires raging across Algeria have killed more than 30 people, including 10 soldiers battling the flames, and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from their homes along the country’s Mediterranean coastal region.
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