The attack, which occurred around 1500 GMT in the Kulp district in Diyarbakir province, targeted a vehicle and left 13 other villagers seriously wounded, it said.

"Members of the separatist terror organisation" -- a term Ankara uses for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- were responsible for the explosion, the office said.

The hunt to find the culprits had begun without delay, the governor's office said.

The PKK, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.