Two soldiers and a member of the "village guard" -- a government-armed militia of local Kurds backing up the army against the rebels -- died in clashes in Sirnak province, the military said in an online statement.

Two other soldiers were wounded in the clashes, which erupted in a mountainous area close to the Iraqi border when the security forces came upon a group of rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), it said.

The operation to hunt down the militants was continuing, military sources said.

In a separate incident, two village guardsmen were killed when PKK militants attacked a military patrol in a rural area in Siirt province, Anatolia news agency reported.

Following a usual winter lull, violence has broken out anew in the southeast with the arrival of spring when the snow melts, allowing the rebels to move out from their mountainous hideouts in Turkey and neighbouring Iraq.

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