Soldiers conducted a seven-day operation against the rebels in Hakkari province near Iraqi border, Hakkari governor's office said in a statement carried by Anatolia.

The bodies of two Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) members were found in the area after the clashes, the statement said. Soldiers also obtained tonnes of material including artillery and guns, it added.

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