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Turkish soldier killed in mine blast blamed on Kurdish rebels: report

ANKARA, June 12, 2008 (AFP) - A Turkish soldier was killed Thursday in the southeast of the country when he stepped on a landmine believed to have planted by separatist Kurdish rebels, Anatolia news agency reported.

The victim was among soldiers carrying out a security sweep close to the Iraqi border, in Hakkari province, against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the report said.

The PKK often uses mines to attack security forces in its 23-year campaign for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast which has so far claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Turkey has stepped up action against the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community since December, with a series of air strikes against rebel bases in neighbouring northern Iraq.

Turkish troops also crossed into Iraq for a week-long incursion targeting a major PKK base there.