Murat Uzun, chief prosecutor in the Ovacik district of the eastern Tunceli province, was wounded Wednesday in an attack staged by two members of the People's Defence Forces (HPG), the military wing of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Uzun died at the hospital where he was taken in a critical condition, security sources told AFP.

"The chief prosecutor, Murat Uzun, known for his enmity and fascist attitude toward the Kurdish people ... has been shot down by our guerrillas," read a statement on HPG's website.

The assailants, one of them a woman, fled after the assault and are still at large.

Security forces are frequent targets for the PKK, but assaults on members of the judiciary are rare.

Clashes between Kurdish rebels and Turkish security forces have shot up in recent months, with the separatists ramping up their attacks, triggering full-fledged military operations in the region.

On Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that 500 Kurdish rebels had been killed over the past month alone.

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