Aftermath of plane crash near military airport in Algeria
The transport aircraft plummeted to the ground at around 8am local time from Boufarik Airport.
Dramatic footage broadcast on Algerian TV shortly after the crash showed black smoke billowing wreckage of the transport plane in the middle of an agricultural field.
Emergency services rushed to the scene, with 130 members of the civil protection unit and more than a dozen ambulances in attendance.
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The huge death toll has made the crash the biggest disaster in the history of the Algerian Air Force.
The plane was bound for Tindouf in southern Algeria, a region bordering the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The area is home to a number of refugee camps which house civilians caught up in the long-running conflict with neighbouring Morocco.
An Algerian official confirmed 26 members of the Western Saharan Polisario Front were onboard the aircraft when it went down.
Troops from the Polisario independence movement are fighting to end the Moroccan presence in Western Sahara.
Boufarik Airport is a military air base located on the northern coast of Algeria, some 19 miles (30km) from the capital Algiers.
The installation is used by larger transport aircraft and is the home base for the Air Transport fleet of the Algerian Air Force.
The crashed plane is reported to have been either an II-76 or II-78 model, aircraft which were originally developed by the Soviet Union and later Russia.
The Algerian Air Force operates over a dozen of the II-76 variants which are commonly used as transports for troops or weapons.