Twenty-five troops were murdered during a rescue mission in Algeria that saved 100 people from wildfires that were devouring woods and villages.

On Tuesday night, the country’s president tweeted that military had rescued civilians in two districts of the hilly Kabyle region.

According to the Defence Ministry, four additional soldiers suffered critical burns, while seven more had minor injuries.

On Monday, dozens of fires erupted in the Kabyle region and elsewhere, prompting officials to dispatch the army to assist residents in putting out the fires and evacuating. Bulldozers were used to clear firebreaks through dense woodland.

Multiple flames raged through forests, consuming olive trees, cattle, and chickens that provide families with a living.

Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud visited Kabyle, the Berbers’ traditional home, to investigate the issue and claimed that ‘criminal hands’ may be to blame.

‘Thirty fires in the same place at the same time can’t be by chance,’ Beldjoud stated on national television, despite the fact that no arrests had been made.