ALGIERS — Blazes raged across northern Algeria Friday 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 at least 69 lives – 41 civilians and 28 soldiers.

Soldiers and civilian volunteers have joined firefighters on multiple fronts in the effort to extinguish the blazes that have been fanned by windy and tinder-dry conditions. In Tizi Ouzou district, the area with the highest casualty toll, an AFP journalist reported entire sectors of forest going up in smoke.

Villagers forced to evacuate in order to escape the flames began trickling back to their homes, overwhelmed by the scale of the damage.

Flags were flying at half-mast after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune declared three days of national mourning starting from Thursday.

Algerian authorities say they suspect widespread arson after so many fires erupted in such a short space of time. The country’s state prosecutor ordered an investigation after a mob allegedly lynched a man they accused of sparking the wildfires.

On the fourth day of the wildfires, efforts to overcome the blazes are continuing in many regions where civilians and soldiers often with limited means joined the fight.

Algeria is also chartering two firefighting planes from the European Union. France also announced the arrival in Algeria of two Canadair firefighting planes it has sent.

Faced with the scale of the disaster, pleas for assistance are multiplying in Algeria and beyond

High winds fuelled the rapid spread of the flames in tinder-dry conditions created by a heatwave across North Africa and the wider Mediterranean. The authorities have raised the possibility of criminal behavior.

Meteorologists expect the Maghreb heatwave to continue until the end of the week, with temperatures in Algeria reaching 50C.

Fires in Tunisia under control

Tunisian authorities said Friday that fires in various regions bordering Algeria are now under control after participation from the Tunisian Army and Civil Protection units.

Mohammad Zaki, the spokesman for the Tunisian National Defense added military aircrafts were also engaged in the process along with the fire department units, stressing that all fires were put down now.

Earlier, fires were raging in Tunisian west-central region of Kassrine burning wide swaths of wooded and shrub lands. Yamen Haqi, in charge of forests in Kassrine said in a statement that cause of the blazes has not been determined yet.

In Tunisia, where almost 30 fires have been recorded since Monday, the mercury hit an all-time record of 50.3C in the central region of Kairouan.

On the northern shores of the Mediterranean, deadly wildfires have been raging in Turkey and Greece for the past two weeks. In Italy, where firefighters were battling more than 500 blazes overnight. — Agencies