An AFP correspondent found several buildings had been destroyed and others pock-marked with bullet holes during the curfew, which took effect late on September 4.

People were being allowed to move in and out of Cizre despite continued army checks at roadblocks, said the correspondent who entered the city after the restriction ended 7:00 am (0400 GMT).

The government had said the curfew was necessary for a military "anti-terror" operation in the city against suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

But the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has said over 20 civilians were killed during the operation, which deprived residents of access to essential amenities and triggered food shortages.

Telephone and Internet communications were still severely limited as residents ventured outside for the first time to inspect the extent of the damage.

"Our children were dying of fear," said Mehmet Guler, a local official.

During the curfew, outsiders had not been allowed to enter Cizre, in what Kurdish activists termed a blockade akin to Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip.

"There is no water, electricity and our provisions are running out," Guler added, saying that even the call to prayer had stopped for the duration of the curfew.

The remnants of the fighting were still apparent in Cizre, with barricades and trenches blocking streets scattered with empty shell casings and the wrecks of burned-out cars.

- 'Saturated in blood' -

The length of the curfew in Cizre -- meaning that citizens were unable to move freely outside their homes for over a week -- also caused international concern.

NIls Muiznieks, the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, on Friday expressed alarm over the "very distressing information" from Cizre, urging that independent observers be allowed into the city.

The operation in Cizre, a city of 120,000 on the border with Syria and close to Iraq, was a key part of the government's drive to cripple the PKK in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, which started in late July and shows no sign of abating.

Interior Minister Selami Altinok said Thursday that up to 32 PKK militants had been killed in Cizre, adding just one civilian had died in the clashes.

But HDP MP Ali Haydar Konca, EU affairs minister in Turkey's caretaker government, said over 20 people had been killed, some 50 wounded and many buildings destroyed.

"This land has been saturated in blood," he said, quoted by the Dogan news agency.

Hasim Kalkan, a student, said the curfew was marked by "hate and bitterness" and repeated claims that residents had been forced to put corpses of children in the freezer as burials were not allowed.

Some streets still bear traces of blood in what activists say is proof of the extent of the bloodshed under the curfew.

Esref Erdin said he lost his nephew Mustafa in the fighting when he went to check water pipes and was then shot by snipers. He tried to take Mustafa to hospital but could not, because of the snipers.

"He died due to loss of blood. The government does not see this... Let those who doubt our situation come and see it. Everything is proven, certified," he told AFP.

In one home, an AFP photographer found a family sitting in mourning around the body of one victim killed in clashes.

With tensions flaring between locals and the authorities, the Turkish interior ministry had earlier removed the popular young female co-mayor of Cizre, Leyla Imret, over remarks made to US-based media outlet Vice News.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation against Imret, 28, over allegations of "making propaganda for a terror organisation" and "inciting insurgency".

The operation in Cizre came at a febrile time in Turkey ahead of snap November 1 elections, where the ruling party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will seek to eat into the pro-Kurd HDP's votes to win back an overall majority.