A lack of specialised water-bombing planes, such as those currently being used to fight fires in Greece and Spain, adds to the challenges faced by firefighters and soldiers sent in as reinforcements.

Authorities have been battling 90 separate fires in 19 wooded regions in the north of the country, from Chlef in the west across to Skikda in the east.

The flames have consumed 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of woodland and farmland -- the worst figures since 1983 -- including pine trees, oaks, cedars and olive groves, spreading a choking black smoke across the regions affected.

Six people, including a woman and two children, were burnt to death at Beni Douala, in the Tizi Ouzou district of Kabylie, 110 kilometres (70 miles) east of Algiers, said civil protection service spokesman Mohamed Amokrane Medjkane.

Two young walkers also perished on the Jijel coastline west of Algiers.

Six villages in the Beni-Douala district, 20 kilometres south of Tizi Ouzou, were evacuated, as was the airport at Bejaia to the east and a nearby riding club.

The fires have been burning for several days now, but all the deaths occured over the last 48 hours. Farm animals and chained-up dogs abandoned by their owners have also perished in the flames.