The fighting took place in mountains in Sirank province, which borders Iraq and Syria, where the army had launched an operation against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) earlier in the week.

The Sirank governor's office had announced the death of another PKK militant in the same region Wednesday.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, called a unilateral ceasefire on October 1 in what it described as an effort for a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish conflict.

But the truce, like previous ones called by the group, was rejected by Turkey, although fighting has markedly decreased since.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.