Turkish police fired tear gas to break up scuffles between Turkish and Kurdish protesters in the town of Dortyol in the southern province of Hatay, a day after four policemen were shot dead, the agency said.

The Hatay governor's office said in a written statement that the attack was the work of the "terrorist organisation", a euphemism used by officials to describe the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a 26-year campaign for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.

In a separate incident Tuesday, four soldiers were wounded in a remote-controlled bomb explosion targeting a military vehicle in the neighbouring province of Osmaniye, Anatolia said.

In Monday's assault, gunmen peppered a police vehicle in Dortyol with bullets before escaping in a pick-up truck with a forged licence plate.

The attack sparked riots in the town late Monday during which protesters threw stones at the local offices of Turkey's main Kurdish party, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), and started a fire there which was put out by firefighters, Anatolia said.

The protesters also attacked shops owned by Kurds, breaking windows and furniture.

Upon reports that police were questioning three people, dozens of Turkish protesters gathered in front of the police headquarters in Dortyol, demanding that the men be handed over to them, the NTV news channel reported.

Order was restored overnight after paramilitary troops were called in, but new tensions erupted on Tuesday.

Turkish protesters tried to attack a Kurdish group as they marched through the town shouting pro-PKK slogans, forcing police to fire tear gas and use water cannon to break the groups up, Anatolia said.

Interior Minister Besir Atalay vowed to purge rebels from the Amanos mountains -- an area near Hatay with a strong PKK presence.

"The regional governors, commanders and police are here... I say clear the Amanos. Do what you have to do," Anatolia quoted the minister as saying at a ceremony for six soldiers slain by a PKK rocket attack in May.

There has been a notable increase in PKK attacks after its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan said in May that he was abandoning efforts for peace with Turkey and the rebels called off a unilateral truce last month.

Blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community, the PKK picked up arms in 1984 for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast in a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.