The attack late Thursday in the mountain location of Yeniyazi was blamed on the Kurdish separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, has stepped up its violent campaign this year.

The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than 37,000 lives since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast.