Twenty-five soldiers killed in rescue mission that saved 100 residents from Algerian wildfires

Twenty-five soldiers were killed during a rescue mission that saved 100 citizens from wildfires ravaging forests and villages in Algeria.

The country’s president announced the deaths on Tuesday night, tweeting that soldiers had rescued residents in two areas of the mountainous Kabyle region.

Four other soldiers sustained serious burns, and seven others also had burns, the Defence Ministry said.

Dozens of blazes sprang up on Monday in the Kabyle region and elsewhere, with authorities sending the army to help citizens battle the blazes and evacuate. Bulldozers were brought in to cut firebreaks into thick forests.

Multiple fires were burning through forests and devouring the olive trees, cattle and chickens that provide the livelihoods of families.

Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud traveled to Kabyle, the traditional home of the Berber, to assess the situation and suggested ‘criminal hands’ might be responsible.

‘Thirty fires at the same time in the same region can’t be by chance,’ Beldjoud said on national television, although no arrests were announced.

Twenty-five soldiers were killed during a rescue mission that saved 100 citizens from wildfires ravaging forests and villages in Algeria

The country’s president announced the deaths on Tuesday night, tweeting that soldiers had rescued residents in two areas of the mountainous Kabyle region. Pictured: An injured man in Tizi Ouzou, one of the most populous cities in the Kabyle region

Dozens of blazes sprang up on Monday in the Kabyle region and elsewhere, with authorities sending the army to help citizens battle the blazes and evacuate. Bulldozers were brought in to cut firebreaks into thick forests

Algeria’s president announced the deaths on Tuesday night, tweeting that soldiers had rescued residents in two areas of the mountainous Kabyle region. Four other soldiers sustained serious burns, and seven others also had burns, the Defence Ministry said

Other northern areas of Algeria also had active wildfires. Prior to the announcement of the soldiers’ deaths, the Civil Protection authority said on Algerian radio that seven people had died, six in Kabyle and a man in his 80s trying to save his animals in the Setif region to the east. 

It counted 41 blazes in 18 wilayas, or regions, as of Monday night, with 21 of them burning around the Kabyle capital of Tizi Ouzou.

The online media outlet TSA said up to 11 people had been killed in the blazes, including those in Kabyle. Many started on Monday, spurred on by high temperatures and wind.

A 92-year-old woman living in the Kabyle mountain village of Ait Saada said the scene Monday night looked like ‘the end of the world.’

‘We were afraid,’ Fatima Aoudia told The Associated Press. ‘The entire hill was transformed into a giant blaze.’

Like older adults quoted by Algerian media, Aoudia compared the scene to bombings by French troops during Algeria’s brutal independence war, which ended in 1962.

‘These burned down forests. It’s a part of me that is gone,’ Aoudia said. ‘It’s a drama for humanity, for nature. It’s a disaster.’ 

A 92-year-old woman living in the Kabyle mountain village of Ait Saada said the scene Monday night looked like ‘the end of the world’

Multiple fires were burning through forests and devouring the olive trees, cattle and chickens that provide the livelihoods of families. Pictured: Medics evacuate during a wildfire in the Kabyle region

Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud traveled to Kabyle, the traditional home of the Berber, to assess the situation. ‘Thirty fires at the same time in the same region can’t be by chance,’ Beldjoud said on national television, although no arrests were announced

The Kabyle region, 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Algeria’s capital of Algiers, is dotted with difficult-to-access villages and water is in short supply during the hot season. Pictured: A man looks on as smoke rises from a wildfire in the Kabyle region

Despite the damage, the multiple blazes in the North African country were limited in scope compared to the blazes ravaging Greece’s second-largest island of Evia and other areas.

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 U.S. West and Siberia. Extreme heat is also fuelling the massive fires in Greece and Turkey.

The Kabyle region, 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Algeria’s capital of Algiers, is dotted with difficult-to-access villages and water is in short supply during the hot season. Some villagers were fleeing, while others tried to hold back the flames themselves, using buckets, branches and other means. The region has no water-dumping planes.

A Civil Protection ambulance driver told the AP that the death toll in Kabyle was higher than the six victims cited by the interior minister. The driver asked not to be identified by name because he was not authorised to speak about the situation. 

Older adults compared the scene to bombings by French troops during Algeria’s brutal independence war, which ended in 1962

Pictured: Residents attempt to extinguish a fire in Tizi Ouzou on Tuesday

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

Despite the damage, the multiple blazes in Algeria were limited in scope compared to the blazes ravaging Greece’s second-largest island of Evia and other areas. Pictured: A burned house in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria