Turkey has eased the 24-hour curfew imposed on the mainly Kurdish town of Cizre nearly three weeks after declaring the successful conclusion of military operations there.

The curfew was lifted at 5am local time on Wednesday allowing residents to return to their conflict-stricken neighbourhoods for the first time since December 14. But it will remain in effect at night between 7.30pm and 5am.

The town near the borders of Syria and Iraq is one of a handful of mainly Kurdish districts where security forces conducted operations against militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

On February 11, security forces in Cizre declared victory over the Kurdish rebels, who had raised barricades, dug trenches and planted explosives to protect the area in which they hoped to establish self-rule.

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