The two rebels, members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), attacked police on Thursday evening with sub-machine guns in front of a police station in the province of Mardin.

Four officers were injured in the attack and one of them died of his wounds at a hospital, officials said. The police's special forces caught up with the attackers after they fled and killed them.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms against Ankara in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.