The bodies of four rebels were found after Tuesday's clashes but information was obtained later "through technical pursuit and official channels... that at least nine terrorists were rendered ineffective and many were wounded," a spokesman said in remarks posted on the army's website.

The militants were ordered to carry their casualties to neighbouring northern Iraq, where they take refuge in remote mountainous hideouts, he said.

Six soldiers were killed and nine wounded in the attack, one of the bloodiest assaults by the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) this year.

The PKK has dramatically stepped up violence since its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan said through his lawyers in late May he was abandoning efforts to seek dialogue with Ankara.

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