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Landmine explosion kills five soldiers in southeast Turkey

ANKARA, July 13, 2006 (AFP) - Five Turkish soldiers were killed and four others injured Thursday when their vehicle ran over a landmine in the country's restive mainly Kurdish southeast, Anatolia news agency reported.

The explosion occurred on a countryside road in the province of Bitlis, it said.

No other details were immediately available.

Rebels from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are active in the region and landmine attacks on military targets have become a hallmark of PKK violence since the group called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire in June 2004.

In the last incident, four security guards from a private firm contracted by a state-run oil company were injured Monday in Sirnak province when a remote-control landmine, believed to have been activated by PKK militants, exploded while their car was passing.

The PKK, blacklisted as terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has fought for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.