Amnesty International has accused Syrian Kurdish forces of committing war crimes by deliberately demolishing homes, in some cases "razing and burning entire villages".

The human rights group documented cases in more than a dozen villages in northern Syria where thousands of residents were forced to flee or had their homes destroyed by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

After Syrian government troops withdrew from majority-Kurdish areas in 2012, a Kurdish-led autonomous administration stepped in to fill the void.

Its security forces, including the YPG and Asayish police, have fought Islamic State (IS) jihadists in these areas.

Amnesty's senior crisis adviser Lama Fakih said the autonomous Kurdish administration is "flouting international humanitarian law, in attacks that amount to war crimes".

YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said: "Very simply, this is a false allegation."

But Amnesty quoted Ciwan Ibrahim, head of the Asayish, as admitting there had been forced displacements, but saying they were "isolated incidents" and that civilians had been moved for their own safety.

In a 38-page report, Amnesty said the forced displacement of mostly non-Kurds after the YPG had captured villages was often in retaliation for "residents' perceived sympathies with, or ties to, members of IS or other armed groups".

It said it had interviewed 37 people who said they had experienced Kurdish abuses in Hasaka and Raqqa provinces.

"They (YPG) pulled us out of our homes and began burning them ... Then they brought the bulldozers and they began demolishing the homes," one resident was quoted as saying.

Amnesty said militiamen had threatened civilians with coalition air strikes if they did not abandon their homes.

The YPG has proved the most effective partner on the ground for a US-led air campaign against IS. The Asayish says it has received training from Western states.

The YPG has previously denied Turkish accusations of deliberately driving out Arab and Turkmen civilians from areas under its control, especially the town of Tel Abyad.

Reuters/AFP