NSW human remains, bushfire linked and 'suspicious': Police

Police are investigating how human remains ended up in dense bushland on the NSW mid-north coast.

Police are treating the discovery of human remains near Taree as suspicious. Source: AAP

Forensic police are working to identify human remains that were dumped and possibly set alight in dense bushland on the NSW mid-north coast.

Emergency services were called to a fire in the Yarrat State Forest near Taree on Thursday, where they found human remains while extingushing the flames.

Early indications suggest the blaze could have been deliberately lit, and the body dumped just a few hours before it was discovered.

"We are treating it as a suspicious death," Detective Chief Inspector Rod Blackman told reporters in Taree on Thursday.