The clashes occurred near the village of Cicekli in the Tunceli province, a region which has seen much fighting between government forces and rebels.

On Wednesday, security forces killed a separatist Kurdish rebel and a soldier died in a landmine explosion blamed on the militants.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since the PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in 1984 for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish east and southeast of the country.