A fire tore through a children's care facility on the eastern outskirts of Algiers in the early hours of Thursday, killing at least 11 people and injuring 19 others, Algerian authorities confirmed. The blaze broke out at around 3:30 a.m. local time at the Fondation de l'Enfance Assistée in Mohammadia, a district east of the Algerian capital, with firefighters deploying ten engines and 16 ambulances to the scene. Crews were still battling the flames more than three hours after the first emergency call, and officials have not yet determined the cause.

While the civil protection department did not initially specify the ages of the victims, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune confirmed that children were among the dead. Writing from Berlin, where he was on an official visit, Tebboune said he learned