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Landmines kill one Turkish soldier, wound another

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, May 22, 2006 (AFP) - A Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded Monday in separate landmine explosions blamed on Kurdish rebels in the east and southeast of the country, local security sources said.

A mine believed to have been planted by rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) exploded as a military vehicle was passing near Lice, in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, killing one soldier, the sources said.

A similar explosion near Baskale, in Van province, wounded a soldier, they said.

Landmine attacks have become a hallmark of the PKK since the group called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire in June 2004 and began to enter Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq.

Turkey has been massing troops along the Iraqi border in recent weeks to crack down on militants who cross over into Turkey with increasing frequency in the spring.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK -- considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union -- took up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast of Turkey.