The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) said that its rebels infiltrated the base in the southern city of Iskenderun on Monday and destroyed a military vehicle carrying troops to guard duty, the Firat news agency said on its website.

Turkish officials on Monday blamed the PKK for the attack which they said killed six soldiers and wounded seven others, but Firat cited the rebels as putting the toll at seven soldiers killed and 11 wounded.

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

The Iskenderun attack came after a report at the weekend quoting jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan as saying he was abandoning efforts to seek dialogue with the Turkish government."