Algiers - At least eight people have died in wildfires that struck different regions of Algeria, civil defence sources said Thursday. After a week-long heatwave, 129 fires were reported in 19 of Algeria's 48 wilaya, or regions, destroying more than 21,000 hectares of forest.
Six of the victims were reported at Tizi Ouzou, with two more dead at Jijel, some 400 kilometres east of the capital Algiers.
Some 700 fire-fighters were struggling with a massive blaze near Bilda, 50 kilometres west of Algiers, with hundreds of people evacuated from their villages.
Meanwhile, a shower of ash fell on Algiers for several days because of fires near the city's outskirts.
Temperatures, which peaked at 43 degrees Celsius, were forecast to fall later Thursday in the north of the country.
