UN deplores Turkish military abuses in Kurdish areas Published duration 10 May 2016

image copyright AFP image caption Turkey's crackdown left some homes in ruins in Cizre

A top UN official has voiced alarm about violence against civilians by Turkish government forces in Kurdish-majority south-eastern Turkey.

The UN says it has reports that more than 100 people were burned to death while sheltering in basements in Cizre.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Raad al-Hussein urged Turkey to grant the UN unimpeded access to the affected areas.

As the report came out, Kurdish rebels were blamed for a bombing that left three people dead and 45 injured.

The car bomb attack targeted a police bus in the Baglar district of Diyarbakir, Turkish media reported, quoting local officials.

No-one admitted carrying out the bombing but the authorities say it was the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - outlawed in Turkey as a "terrorist" group.

Earlier this year Turkey imposed curfews on Cizre and other parts of the troubled south-east, as its security forces battled PKK fighters there.

image copyright AP image caption PKK militants in Nusaydin during a clash with security forces (1 Mar 16)

image copyright AFP image caption Turkish security forces are fighting the PKK in some densely populated areas

The UN commissioner said there were accounts of unarmed civilians, including women and children, being shot by snipers in south-eastern Turkey during the crackdown. Government forces also caused huge damage to the local infrastructure, he said.

"It is essential that the authorities respect human rights at all times while undertaking security or counter-terrorism operations," Mr Hussein said.

"In 2016, to have such a lack of information about what is happening in such a large and geographically accessible area is both extraordinary and deeply worrying."

Since a ceasefire broke down 10 months ago, military operations in the south-east and PKK retaliatory attacks have left hundreds dead.

The Turkish government has not yet allowed a UN team into the area and rejects accusations that it targeted civilians, the BBC's Mark Lowen reports from Istanbul.

Separately, US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said that in the past two months there had been cases of Turkish border guards shooting and beating Syrian asylum seekers and smugglers.

The guards killed five people in those incidents, according to an HRW investigation

Turkey is already housing 2.7 million Syrians and says it is official policy to allow Syrian refugees to enter the country.