Blazes raged across northern Algeria on Thursday as the country observed a national day of mourning for dozens of people killed in the latest wildfires to sweep the Mediterranean.
The North African country has been in the grip of devastating fires since Monday that have claimed 69 lives — 41 civilians and 28 soldiers.
Soldiers and civilian volunteers have joined firefighters on multiple fronts in the effort to extinguish the blazes.
In Tizi Ouzou district, the area with the highest casualty toll, an AFP journalist reported entire sectors of forest going up in smoke as far as the eye can see.
Villagers forced to evacuate in order to escape the flames began trickling back to their homes, overwhelmed by the scale of the damage.
