The roadside bomb, planted by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants, was detonated by remote control on a road linking the towns of Nusaybin and Omerli in the province of Mardin, the report said.

The attack killed two soldiers on the spot. A third soldier later died of wounds suffered in the attack.

A security sweep was under way to catch the assailants.

In a separate attack, PKK rebels fired on police lodgings in the town of Tatvan in the southeastern province of Bitlis late Saturday with rocket-propelled grenades, the agency said.

A police officer was wounded from shrapnel, it added.

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

The rebels have significantly stepped up attacks since their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan declared in May that he was abandoning efforts to seek dialogue with Ankara and the PKK ended a unilateral ceasefire in June.