"Military units in the region have been reinforced. The operations will continue in a determined and intensive manner," an unnamed general staff official told the mass-circulation Sabah newspaper.

Clashes between the army and the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have markedly increased over the past several weeks, which also saw deadly Kurdish riots in urban centers and bombings in western Turkey blamed on the outlawed group.

The violence shattered a period of relative calm in the southeast where, analysts say, the PKK is seeking to re-establish itself after calling off a five-year unilateral ceasefire in June 2004.

The reinforcements, including elite commando units, have been deployed in areas along the borders with Iran and Iraq, from where the infiltrations of PKK rebels usually increase with the arrival of spring, the daily Aksam said.

An additional 10,000 troops have been deployed to the area, bringing to 50,000 the total number of soldiers there, it said.

Most PKK militants, whose numbers are estimated at about 5,000, retreated to bases in the mountains of northern Iraq in 1999 after the group declared a unilateral truce following the capture of its leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The number of armed PKK militants on Turkish territory has exceeded 2,000 for the first time since 1999, the daily Vatan said.

The deployment precedes a visit to Turkey on Wednesday by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Ankara has repeatedly urged the United States to crack down on PKK bases in northern Iraq, but Washington says its troops are swamped by violence in other parts of the country.

Like Turkey, the US and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist organization.

Despite Ankara's frustration with US reluctance over military action against the group, Turkish diplomats say intelligence sharing between the two countries is improving and Washington is supplying information on PKK infiltrations into Turkey.

They say US efforts to cut PKK's financing channels are also under way.

Prior to the US-led occupation of Iraq, the Turkish army carried out incursions into northern Iraq to pursue the PKK.

The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than 37,000 lives since the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the southeast in 1984.