Suspected of lightning fire in Algeria lynched by angry mob

An individual, who was allegedly caught lighting a fire, was killed by an angry mob in the region of Larbaâ Nath Irathen on the heights of Tizi-Ouzou, which has been facing huge fires for the past three days, killing at least 69 people.

The alleged arsonist(a person who is deliberately setting fire to property), onboard a vehicle without a registration number, was pursued by a group of young people who apprehended him on the road leading to Tizi-Ouzou through the municipality of Aït Oumalou, according to local sources.

The individual was handed over to the security services, and a large crowd accompanied the police van to the police station courtyard, the same sources added, quoted by local media, noting that as the police were about to bring him down, dozens of angry youths took him and lynched him in the courtyard of the police station.

However, residents of Sidi Daoud, in the Wilaya of Boumerdes, where one of the arrested suspected arsonists is from, appealed for his release, claiming that he had gone to Tizi-Ouzou to help local people fight the fires.

Most of the 69 reported victims of the fires died in this commune, 25 kilometers from Tizi Ouzou.

According to the Algerian authorities, the fires that affected the Wilaya of Tizi-Ouzou are of criminal origin, and the arsonists have chosen their targets to do maximum damage.

According to the Algerian authorities, the fires which affected the Wilaya of Tizi-Ouzou are of criminal origin, and the arsonists have chosen their targets to do the maximum damage.