Two women were among the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants killed in the clashes in Hakkari province, near the Iraqi border, the governor's office said in a statement, carried by Anatolia.

"The operation is continuing," it added.

The PKK, fighting for autonomy in the Kurdish-majority southeast, said on August 13 it was declaring a truce until September 20, a period that covers the holy Muslim month of Ramadan and a September 12 referendum on constitutional changes.

Ankara has dismissed similar PKK truces in the past and continued to fight the rebels.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.