Dozens of deadly fires devour Algeria's northern forests

Firefighters and residents armed with simple tools battled a rash of forest fires in northern Algeria

ALGIERS, Algeria -- Firefighters and residents armed with simple tools battled a rash of forest fires in northern Algeria that the nation's interior minister said Tuesday have killed at least six people in the mountainous Kabyle region. He blamed “criminal hands” for some of the blazes. 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, home of Berbers, to assess the situation. “Thirty fires at the same time in the same region can’t be by chance,” Beldjoud said on national television. Other areas of Algeria also had active wildfires. The Civil Protection authority said on Algerian radio that a total of seven people had died, six in Kabyle. 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.