‘Martyrs’: Algeria wildfires leave 42 dead, including 25 soldiers

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune says soldiers who died saving 100 people in Kabyle are ‘martyrs’.

At least 42 people have been killed in wildfires ravaging mountain forests and villages east of Algeria’s capital, including 25 soldiers who died saving residents, the president announced. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Tuesday night tweeted that the soldiers who died saving 100 people from the fires in two areas of the Kabyle region are “martyrs. Kabyle is home to the North African nation’s Berber population. At least 11 other soldiers were burned fighting the fires, four of them seriously, the defence ministry said.