The clashes occurred in the mountainous Bestler area in the province of Sirnak, near the border with Iraq, during a military operation against the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the agency said.

The five men were members of the so-called "village guard" -- local Kurdish units armed by the government which support the army against the rebels.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

The Turkish army has stepped up it crackdown against the group since December, intensifying operations in the southeast while also conducting a series of air raids on PKK camps in neighbouring northern Iraq, where the rebels take refuge.