Africa · 29 August, 2026 · 3 min read
Algeria Declares Three Days Of Mourning After Wildfires Kill 12 In Jijel
At least 12 people killed in northeastern Algeria across Jijel, Bejaia and Tizi Ouzou. President Tebboune declared three days of national mourning for the victims.
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7 of 8 outlets skipped it: saudi Arabia expresses solidarity with Algeria after wildfire victims.
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Wildfires Kill Across Jijel
Algeria declared three days of national mourning after wildfires killed at least 12 people and injured dozens in the country’s northeast, with firefighters continuing to battle flames ravaging the mountainside in Jijel. President Abdelmajid Tebboune declared the mourning as the death toll rose to 12 and dozens more were injured, while the civil protection said that out of more than 190 fires recorded over the previous 24 hours, 46 were still burning. The fires were concentrated in northeastern Jijel, and Al Jazeera reported that Interior Minister Said Sayoud said the deaths occurred in the provinces of Jijel, Bejaia and Tizi Ouzou.
Al Jazeera also reported that Sayoud made the remarks during a visit to a hospital in the city of Souk El Thenine in Bejaia to evaluate treatment for victims suffering burn injuries and smoke inhalation. In the same reporting, Sayoud said “Five deaths were recorded in the prefecture of Jijel, four in that of Bejaia and three in that of Tizi Ouzou,” as authorities evacuated dozens of families from the hardest-hit areas.
Funerals and Official Visits
Funerals were held for victims of the deadly wildfires in Algeria’s northeastern Jijel province, with coffins carried to the cemetery by members of the country’s Civil Protection. Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb joined grieving family members and local residents in Djemaa Beni Habibi for the funerals after traveling to the region earlier in the week to assess the damage and help coordinate the response. The death toll stood at 12 and 54 people were injured, as President Abdelmajid Tebboune declared three days of national mourning on Thursday.
Al Jazeera reported that Sayoud said Civil Protection teams recorded 154 fire outbreaks across the country on Wednesday, including 36 in Bejaia province, 18 of which had been brought under control. In the same Al Jazeera account, Sayoud said the fires were still being managed across multiple provinces, including operations still under way in Bejaia where 18 hotspots remained active, and in Jijel where fires were burning in 12 municipalities.
Aftermath and What’s at Risk
As Algeria continued firefighting efforts, the scale of the wildfire response remained a central focus, with Anadolu Ajansı reporting that 64 wildfires were still burning across 10 Algerian provinces on Friday after authorities extinguished 110 out of 174 fires that erupted nationwide over the past 24 hours. Anadolu Ajansı said Jijel topped the list of provinces for ongoing fires with 20, followed by Skikda with 14, El Tarf with 10, Guelma with six, Annaba with five, and Bejaia with four. The same Anadolu Ajansı report said the spate of fires had killed 12 people to date—five in Jijel, four in Bejaia and three in Tizi Ouzou—while 54 people were injured, including six in critical condition.
In a separate account, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expressed solidarity with Algeria following the wildfires in the northeast, extending condolences to the families of the victims and wishing a swift recovery for the injured in an official statement on the X platform. Aajil said the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Kingdom’s solidarity with Algeria “following the death and injury of several people due to wildfires in the forests in the northeast of the country,” as the national mourning period and hospital treatment continued.