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Roadside blasts kill three soldiers in Turkey

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Dec 6, 2006 (AFP) - Two roadside blasts blamed on the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have killed three soldiers in southeast Turkey, officials said on Wednesday.

The explosives, planted on a rural road in Sirnak province, were detonated by remote control while a convoy of three military vehicles carrying new conscripts was passing on Tuesday, the office of the Sirnak governor said.

Fourteen soldiers were injured.

Five PKK rebels were killed in clashes with the army in the same region on Monday.

The PKK called a unilateral ceasefire on October 1, saying it hoped to pave the way for a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish conflict.

The truce, like previous ones called by the rebels, was rejected by Turkey, but fighting has decreased markedly since then.

More than 37,000 people have died since the PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast in 1984.