The clashes between members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and security forces took place in the Genc district of Bingol province, where eight people were also wounded, sources said.

The three rebels were killed and a Turkish soldier was wounded at an initial clash earlier in the day, but the death toll climbed to five after the deaths of another Turkish soldier and a Kurdish militiaman working for Turkish forces.

The fighting was continuing in the area, the sources added.

Fighting between the two sides usually escalates in spring as snow melts along the mountainous Iraqi-Turkish border, enabling rebels holed up in rough terrain to launch attacks more easily.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and by much of the international community, took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.