At least 65 people have been killed in wildfires that erupted in Algeria, east of the capital, Algiers.
The dead include 25 soldiers who were killed trying to save residents.
The fires have been ravaging forests and villages 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.
Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Twitter that soldiers have saved more than 100 citizens from the blazes in the two areas of the mountainous region.
The Kabyle region, which is situated 60 miles (100km) east of Algeria’s capital of Algiers, is dotted with difficult-to-access villages.
Some villagers were fleeing, while others tried to hold back the flames themselves, using buckets, branches and rudimentary tools.
The deaths and injuries occurred around Kabyle’s capital of Tizi-Ouzou, which is flanked by mountains and in Bejaia, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, the president said.
Earlier, interior minister Kamel Beldjoud travelled to Kabyle to assess the situation and also blamed the fires there on arson.
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