The clashes on the Mount Cudi in Sirnak province near the Syrian and Iraqi borders had left six Kurdish rebels dead since the operation began on Tuesday.

The operation was over late Friday, said the sources.

Backed by helicopters and fighter jets, thousands of security forces, including police and the army, participated in the largest anti-rebel operation so far this year.

Special police forces have lately played a much bigger role in the fight against the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a task mostly handled by soldiers in the past.

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