At least 25 Algerian soldiers have been killed saving residents from wildfires ravaging mountain forests and villages east of the capital, as the civilian death toll from the blazes rose to at least 17.
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President Abdelmadjid Tebboune tweeted on Tuesday that the soldiers saved 100 people from the fires in two areas of Kabyle, the region that is home to the North African nation's Berber population.
Eleven other soldiers were burned fighting the fires, four of them seriously, the Defence Ministry said.
Prime Minister Aimene Benabderrahmane later said on state TV that 17 civilians had lost their lives, raising the count of citizens from seven previously and bringing the total death toll to 42. He provided no details.
The Kabyle region, 100 kilometres east of Algeria's capital of Algiers, is dotted with difficult-to-access villages and with temperatures rising has had limited water.
Some villagers were fleeing, while others tried to hold back the flames themselves, using buckets, branches and rudimentary tools. The region has no water-dumping planes.
The deaths and injuries Tuesday occurred around Kabyle's capital of Tizi-Ouzou, which is flanked by mountains, and in Bejaia, which borders the Mediterranean Sea, the president said.
There were no immediate details to explain the high death toll among the military. A photo pictured on the site of the Liberte daily showed a soldier with a shovel dousing sputtering flames with dirt, his automatic weapon slung over his shoulder.
Dozens of blazes sprang up on Monday in Kabyle and elsewhere, and Algerian authorities sent in the army to help citizens battle blazes and evacuate. Multiple fires were burning through forests and devouring olive trees, cattle and chickens that provide the livelihoods of families in the Kabyle region.
Climate scientists say there is little doubt climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is driving extreme events, such as heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods and storms.
A worsening drought and heat - both linked to climate change - are driving wildfires in the US West and Russia's northern region of Siberia. Extreme heat is also fuelling the massive fires in Greece and Turkey.
Australian Associated Press
