Another eight soldiers were wounded, including one seriously, when their military vehicle was hit by the blast on a road close to the town of Cukurca, near the Iraqi border, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The source said the mine was believed to have been planted by the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which often uses such explosives that are activated by remote control.

Nine Turkish soldiers were killed in a similar attack on April 29.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the world, has waged an armed campaign for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish east and southeast since 1984, in a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.