The blast occurred overnight in a mountainous region in Bingol province where security forces were carrying out a security sweep, the general staff said in a statement on its Internet site.

The landmine was planted by "terrorists", the statement said, employing the official jargon used for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara and much of the international community, has notably stepped up violence this year and frequently uses landmines to target security forces.

The army has launched a large-scale crackdown against the rebels in the east and southeast of the country and amassed troops on the border with Iraq, where the PKK takes refuge.

The PKK took up arms for self-rule in the Kurdish-majority region in 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.