Algeria leader calls wildfires 'disaster', says 22 arsonists arrested

Men attempt to put out a fire in Iboudraren village, in the mountainous Kabylie region of Tizi Ouzou, east of Algiers, Algeria August 12, 2021. REUTERS/Abdelaziz Boumzar

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria has arrested 22 people suspected of being behind the most devastating wildfires in the country's history that killed 65 people, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Thursday, calling the fires a 'disaster' and urging the preservation of national unity.

Dozens of forest fires have hit mountainous areas in northern Algeria since Monday, mainly in Tizi Ouzou, the main province of the Kabylie region east of the capital, Algiers.