Flames scorched across Algeria as sixty-four wildfires still raged through ten provinces, defying exhausted firefighting crews nationwide.
Civil Protection authorities said they had extinguished 110 of 174 fires that erupted over the previous twenty-four hours, though embers continued spreading fast.
Jijel province bore the heaviest toll, with twenty active blazes, followed by Skikda’s fourteen and El Tarf’s ten near the Tunisian border.
The death toll climbed to twelve, with five killed in Jijel, four in Bejaia and three in Tizi Ouzou, officials reported.
Fifty-four others suffered injuries, including six in critical condition, Interior Minister Said Sayoud confirmed Friday.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune declared three days of mourning, ordering flags lowered nationwide in tribute to the fallen.
Military aircraft and helicopters battled the infernos from above, as ground crews fought flames amid a brutal heat wave.
Temperatures reached forty-nine degrees Celsius this week, meteorologists warned, fueling fires that have surged 167 percent since May.