A fourth soldier was injured in the blast in the Kurdish-majority Diyarbakir province near the town of Dicle after soldiers resumed operations against the on the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the United States and the European Union, notably stepped up attacks in the east and the southeast this year.

The army has reinforced its units in the region and amassed troops on the border with Iraq, where the Kurdish militants take 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.