At least 65 people have been killed in wildfires that erupted in Algeria, according to state television reports.

Officials said the number included 25 soldiers killed trying to save residents.

The fires have been ravaging forests and villages east of the capital, Algiers, in the Kabyle region, covering the mountainous area with thick clouds of smoke.

Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane told state television the blazes appeared to be "highly synchronised", adding that "leads one to believe these were criminal acts".

He called on the international community to help and said the government was in talks with partners to hire planes to extinguish fires. The region has no water-dumping aircraft.

Firefighters and the army are still trying to contain the blazes.

IFRC:

On Saturday, 24 July 2021, a fire broke out late in the afternoon in the pine forests of Ain Mazer, Sakiet Sidi Youssef district, Kef governorate in the middle-western region of Tunisia. Ain Mazer is a small village located in a rugged area, 18 kilometres from Sakkiet Sidi Youssef’s centre. Its population makes their living primarily through forestry, livestock, and crop farming. Simultaneously, another fire has erupted in Ghar Dimaa delegation, Jendouba Governorate, damaging over 1,500 hectares of Fajj Hessin forests. The fire destroyed 1,000 hectares of pine forest and continued until the evening of 27 July 2021, spreading up to Touiref, another village in the Kef governorate’s northern region. The fire in Touiref destroyed approximately 100 hectares of forest as well as ten homes and farms. (IFRC, 11 Aug 2021)