Two soldiers were wounded in the shootout near the town of Semdinli, which broke out after the troops spotted two militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) planting explosives on a road used frequently by military vehicles, the report said.

The soldiers safely defused the device, the news agency said.

PKK militants often plant home-made landmines on roads in the southeast and detonate them by remote control, targeting the security forces.

Last week, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed a military clampdown on the PKK after the rebels killed 13 soldiers in an ambush in the southeast.

The bloodshed dealt a fresh blow to Ankara's already faltering efforts to reconcile with Kurdish nationalists and cajole the PKK into laying down arms.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in the Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has resulted in some 45,000 deaths.