The officer was assaulted late Saturday while security forces struggled to disperse sympathizers of separatist Kurdish rebels in the city of Adana, Anatolia news agency quoted local governor Ilhan Atis as saying.

Saturday was the 25th anniversary of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party's first attack on Turkish targets, which took place in Eruh town on August 15, 1984. The attack marked the beginning of a violent campaign for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast.

Police had fired tear gas to disperse the crowd when the officer emerged wounded from a cloud of smoke, the Milliyet newspaper reported. He died later in hospital.

The authorities were looking for the perpetrators, Atis said.

The Turkish government has said it is working on fresh reforms to expand Kurdish rights in a bid to end the conflict in the southeast, which has claimed some 45,000 lives since 1984.