"We have so far tried to handle this issue with patience... to resolve this problem with a democratic approach... (but) these are not acts that one can put up with," Erdogan said in a televised speech in the eastern city of Agri.

"I have to say that the cabinet meeting tomorrow (Monday) is poised for many things," he said.

He was speaking after officials said militants from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) killed seven soldiers and one member of the village guard, a government-paid Kurdish militia supporting the army, in a clash overnight in the countryside in Siirt province.

The army launched a security operation at dawn, bombing the area to which the militants fled and deploying reinforcement, including elite commando teams, the CNN-Turk news channel reported.

The incident came after five soldiers died Thursday in a landmine explosion blamed on the PKK on a rural road in Bitlis province.

In nearby Bingol, meanwhile, a PKK militant was killed after rebels ignored calls to surrender during a security operation, the Anatolia news agency reported Sunday, citing the local governor.

In Ankara, the higher board for anti-terror struggle, comprised of senior ministers, generals and security officials, reviewed the situation at an emergency meeting, in an apparent preparation for Monday's cabinet meeting.

The board, chaired by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who is also a deputy prime minister, made no statement after the discussions.

The PKK, listed as terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, has fought for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Clashes in the region have been on the rise since 2004 when the PKK called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire.

Erdogan has repeatedly pledged to resolve the conflict with more democracy and prosperity for the Kurdish minority.

The government, however, rejects negotiating a settlement with the PKK and Erdogan said in April that he would also avoid dialogue with the main Kurdish political movement, the Democratic Society Party, until it openly denounces the PKK as a terrorist group.

At least 85 rebels and 49 members of the security forces have been killed this year in the southeast, according to an AFP count.

Kurdish militants have also claimed responsibility for 11 blasts in urban centres, in which nine people were killed and nearly 140 others injured.

In the spring, the army shifted thousands of troops to regions at the Iraqi border to stop what it described as increasing infiltration of PKK militants from safe havens in the mountains of neighbouring northern Iraq.

The rebels have found refuge in the Kurdish-controlled enclave since 1999 after they declared the unilateral truce.

Much to Ankara's frustration, both Baghdad and Washington have been reluctant to take military action against the PKK, arguing that their forces are swamped by violence in other parts in conflict-torn Iraq.

In late June, the parliament passed a new anti-terror law expanding the scope of crimes punishable as "terrorist" acts and introducing restrictions on the media for publications deemed as propaganda in favour of terrorist groups.