The governor's office in the Kurdish majority province of Batman blamed the attack on "terrorists" and said a wide operation had been launched to capture the culprits.

The state has been battling Kurdish fighters in the southeast region after the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in 2015.

Local authorities had previously said four soldiers were killed and another five injured in the explosion as their military vehicle was passing through the Gercus district.

Anadolu said three of the soldiers later died in hospital.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984 that has claimed some 40,000 lives.

The governor's office did not explicitly name the PKK in connection with Thursday's attack.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.