Storms which left a trail of damage across Algeria killed at least seven people, a civil defence official told state radio today.

Four bodies were recovered in the M'sila region, some 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of Algiers, adding to three who died Wednesday in the town of Djelfa, 50 kilometres further south, he said.

Several major highways were closed by the storms which broke on Tuesday, and caused widespread flooding after a prolonged dry period.

The national weather centre said the storms would persist on Thursday morning but would lift later in the day.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.