The incident occurred late in the evening at the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) building in Ankara's Balgat district, from where the party had recently moved, according to the NTV news channel.

Erdogan was at the time working in the new AKP headquarters in a nearby neighbourhood.

The man told security guards he wanted to see Erdogan but was stopped from entering the building. He then fired two shots in the air, saying he was angry with Erdogan's recent comments about the funerals of soldiers killed by Kurdish rebels, NTV said.

The man, described as being possibly psychologically unstable and drunk, was detained and taken to the anti-terror department, CNN-Turk television reported.

Erdogan on Tuesday sharply criticised anti-government protests at the funerals the previous day of three soldiers, charging they were orchestrated by political rivals to discredit his party ahead of elections on July 22.

The government is under pressure to toughen measures against the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has markedly stepped up violence against the security forces this year.

Earlier Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed a soldier and wounded two others in Hakkari province, which borders Iraq and Iran, in the latest episode of violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast, Anatolia news agency reported.

Kurdish rebels set off the explosives by remote control as a patrolling military unit passed, it said.

The army has launched a large-scale crackdown against the PKK in the east and southeast and amassed troops at the border with Iraq, where the militants are taking refuge.

The army has also called for a cross-border operation to destroy PKK bases in northern Iraq, where, officials say, the rebels obtain weapons and explosives for attacks in Turkey.

But Erdogan said Tuesday that Ankara would focus on fighting the PKK inside Turkey and would seek dialogue with Baghdad to resolve the problem of the safe haven the rebels enjoy in Kurdish-held northern Iraq.

Also Tuesday, the PKK blamed the mounting violence on the army and offered a ceasefire if Ankara agreed to end military operations against the group.

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