The blast occurred around 03:00 a.m. (0000 GMT) on rural ground near the remote town of Dogubayazit near the border with Greece, Rauf Ulusoy, the town's governor, told the Anatolia news agency.

The explosion partly damaged the pipeline, and a team from the state-run gas company BOTAS were on site to repair the damage and prevent leaks, he added.

Rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) often carry out attacks against gas and oil pipelines as part of a long-running armed campaign against the Turkish state.

Violence in the southeast and east of Turkey has increased significantly since the group called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire in June 2004 and began to enter Turkey from bases in northern Iraq.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK -- considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union -- took up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast of Turkey.