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Roadside bomb kills Turkish soldier

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, June 13, 2007 (AFP) - A roadside bomb killed a soldier and wounded two others Wednesday in Turkey's increasingly restive southeast, Anatolia news agency reported.

Kurdish rebels set off the explosives by remote control as a patrolling military unit passed by in Hakkari province, which borders Iraq and Iran, the report said.

The blast was the latest attack blamed on the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has markedly stepped up violence against the security forces this year.

The army has launched a large-scale crackdown against the group in the east and southeast and amassed troops at the border with Iraq, where the militants are taking refuge.

The army has also called for a cross-border operation to destroy PKK bases in northern Iraq, where, officials say, the rebels obtain weapons and explosives for attacks in Turkey.

But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Ankara would focus on fighting the PKK inside Turkey and would seek dialogue with Baghdad to resolve the problem of the safe haven the rebels enjoy in Kurdish-held northern Iraq.

Also Tuesday, the PKK blamed the mounting violence on the army and offered a ceasefire if Ankara agreed to end military operations against the group.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast in 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.