The Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced on Tuesday evening that at least 25 soldiers died during rescuing residents from fires that swept through mountain forests and villages east of the Algerian capital, as the civilian death toll rose to at least 17.
Tebboune wrote on Twitter that the soldiers were "martyrs" and rescued 100 people from fires in two regions of Kabyle, inhabited by the Berbers in North Africa. The Defense Ministry said 11 other soldiers sustained burns in the clashes, four of them in serious condition.
PM Aïmene Benabderrahmane later said on state television that 17 civilians had died, bringing the total death toll to 42.
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The president said that the dead and wounded occurred on Tuesday mainly around Tizi Ouzou, the capital of the Kabyle region surrounded by mountains, as well as in Bejaia, which borders the Mediterranean.
The prime minister told state television that initial reports from security services showed the fires in Kabyle were “highly synchronized,” adding that “leads one to believe these were criminal acts.” Earlier, Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud traveled to Kabyle to assess the situation and also blamed the fires there on arson.
Benabderrahmane pointed out that initial reports showed that the fires in the regions were "very simultaneous, leading to the belief that these are criminal acts".
Earlier, Interior Minister Kamal Beljoud traveled to the Kabyle region to assess the situation and blamed the fires on arson.
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"Thirty fires at the same time in the same area cannot be by chance," Beldjoud said.
As of Monday evening, Civil Protection counted 41 fires in 18 regions, including 21 fires around Tizi Ouzou.
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