The clash erupted late Tuesday near Cukurca town, Hakkari province, when a group of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels fired upon a group of soldiers on patrol duty, the provincial governor's office said in a statement.

A soldier was killed and three others wounded in the exchange of fire.

Two PKK rebels, one of them a woman, also died in the fighting, it said.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in 1984 for self rule in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.

Violence has been on the rise with the arrival of spring as melting snow allows the rebels to move from their mountainous hideouts in Turkey and neighbouring Iraq.

On Monday, PKK rebels fired rockets on a Turkish navy base in the south of the country, killing six soldiers and wounding seven. Five members of the security forces and a private security guard were killed in a string of attacks on Saturday.

The surging violence followed a report at the weekend quoting jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan as saying he was abandoning efforts to seek dialogue with Ankara.