The soldier was wounded late Saturday when his patrol set off a mine, apparently planted by Kurdish militants, near Dicle, a small city in the mainly Kurdish southeast. His sergeant was killed instantly and four others were wounded, Anatolia said.

The explosion follows three other deadly incidents Friday and Saturday opposing Turkish troops and militants allegedly from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Those incidents, including a rebel attack on a police post and a remote-detonated landmine, killed six.

At least 98 rebels and 74 members of security forces have been killed in an escalation of violence across the region over the past year, according to an AFP count.

More than 37,000 lives have been lost in the Kurdish insurrection which began in 1984 with Kurdish demands for independence in the southeast.

Ankara, the European Union and the United States all classify the PKK as a terrorist organization.

The group imposed a unilateral ceasefire in 1999, after the capture of its leader Abdullah Ocalan, but ended it in 2004.