UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has called for an urgent investigation into alleged killings following the controvercial October 29 General Election.

The largest opposition Chadema party alleged over 700 people were killed in post-election violence.

“Families are visiting police stations and hospitals desperately searching for their loved ones ,” Türk said in a statement released in Geneva on Tuesday.

Türk said that his office had received credible reports from multiple sources indicating that hundreds of protesters and other civilians were killed, with many more injured or detained during a nationwide crackdown.

“I strongly urge the Tanzanian authorities to provide information about the fate and whereabouts of all those missing, and to hand over the bodies of those killed to their loved ones so that they can be given dignified burials.”

It has emerged that police and soldiers have been seen removing bodies from hospitals and city streets and taking them to undisclosed locations, allegedly to conceal evidence of mass killings.

Türk has urged Tanzanian authorities to “fully and transparently” investigate all allegations of killings, torture, and arbitrary detention, and to hold perpetrators accountable.

Tanzania was placed under a nationwide curfew and internet shutdown following the October 29 vote.

Dar es Salaam, Arusha, and Mwanza cities have suffered continued night raids in opposition strongholds, with bodies allegedly being collected and hospitals overwhelmed.

Tanzania’s Foreign Minister Mahmoud Kombo Thabit dismissed the allegations as “gross exaggerations,” describing the unrest as “a few isolated incidents” and defending the internet shutdown as necessary “to prevent false information.”