ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Wildfires raged across Algeria killing 15 people and injuring 26 others, state media reported Monday.
APS news agency quoted the Interior Ministry as saying that at least 1,500 people were evacuated but did not provide details.
Wildfires, some spread by strong winds, moved across forests and agricultural areas in 16 regions causing 97 blazes in the north African country. The largest and deadliest fires ravaged parts of Bejaia and Jijel — in the Kabyle region east of the capital, Algiers — and Bouira, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Algiers.
Operations to tamp down the fires continued with some 7,500 firefighters and 350 trucks on the ground as well as air support.
Algeria is no stranger to summer wildfires.
At least 37 people were killed in August after wildfires blazed near Algeria’s northern border with Tunisia.
A year earlier, at least 42 people were killed in blazes — 25 of them were soldiers called in to help fight the fires in the mountainous Kabyle region that is dotted with villages.
The Associated Press
