The soldiers had been protecting a road building team in the Daglica district of the province close to the Iraqi border, it added. One soldier was wounded in the attack, which was carried out by a guided rocket, it said.

The authorities are still battling the three-decade insurgency of the PKK which initially took up arms for a separate state but now demands more autonomy.

Ankara backed peace talks in the early years of the decade but a ceasefire collapsed in 2015 and there have been deadly clashes ever since.