210810 Algeria fires
Smoke rises from a wildfire in the forested hills of the Kabylie region, east of the capital Algiers, on August 10, 2021. Image Credit: AFP

Algiers: Twenty-five soldiers have been killed battling fires ravaging northern Algeria over the last 24 hours, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Twitter on Tuesday.

“It is with great sadness that I have learned of the martyrdom of 25 soldiers after they were successful in rescuing around 100 citizens from the flames in the mountains of Bejaia and Tizi Ouzou,” the president said on his official Twitter account.