Soldiers were called in after rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) blocked a road connecting the city of Lice and Bingol province in southeast Turkey, the agency quoted Diyarbakir governor Mustafa Toprak as saying.

"One terrorist was found dead with his killer Kanas weapon," Toprak said, adding that the operation was still ongoing.

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