The victims were travelling in a truck when the mine was detonated near the village of Alan, in Hakkari province at the border with Iraq and Iran.

The blast follows the deaths on Friday of soldiers when another Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) mine went off in the neighbouring Sirnak area.

Remote-controlled mines usually targeting troops are a favoured device of the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Turkey carried out fresh air strikes in the early hours of Sunday on Kurdish rebel positions inside northern Iraq, the Turkish military announced.

Twelve targets linked to the PKK in the Kandil mountains -- where the rebels have their headquarters -- were targeted, the military said on its website.

The PKK has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.