The fighting in the Bitlis province also left dead three village guards, or government-armed Kurdish miltia supporting the Turkish army against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Another village guard was wounded, the report said, adding that the clash was ongoing.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community, has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish east and southeast since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

The Turkish army has stepped up its crackdown against the group since December, intensifying operations in the southeast and conducting air raids on PKK camps in neighbouring northern Iraq, where the rebels take refuge.

Ankara blames the PKK and a group of militants affiliated to the rebels for a recent string of bomb attacks in urban centres, including two bomb attacks in Istanbul on July 27 which killed 17 people and wounded more than 150.