Turkey has reinstated an open-ended curfew in the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Cizre in a bid to catch militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The new measure came into effect at 7:00 pm local time (600 GMT) on Sunday after thousands of Cizre locals turned out for the funerals of 16 people killed in violence during the previous nine-day curfew.

"To ensure the security of our people's lives and property during the arrest of members of the separatist terror organization, a curfew has been announced in Cizre from 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) until further notice," said a statement from the office of the Sirnak region's governor Ali Ihsan Su.

The Turkish government said about 32 Kurdish militants were killed during the previous curfew imposed in Cizre in "anti-terror" operations.

The official figure was denied by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey.  The organization said 21 civilians were killed. According to the HDP, the attacks have deprived residents of access to essential services and triggered food shortages throughout the city.

Cizre is a city of 120,000 people on the border with Syria and also close to Iraq. The city was a key part of the government's drive that started in July to cripple the PKK in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq.

Another curfew was also imposed in parts of the central Sur district of the southern Diyarbakir city, as the authorities conducted a new anti-PKK operation there.

A government statement said the curfew had been put in place at 5:00 am local time (0200 GMT) on Sunday and would last until further notice.