A group of rebels had opened fire on a military convoy in the Hakkari province, wedged between Iraq and Iran, security sources said.

Bombs attacks blamed on the rebels in the same region this month left two other Turkish soldiers dead.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has since 1984 been carrying out an armed struggle for self-rule in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast.

It is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community.