The clash with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels erupted Sunday near the town of Uludere in Sirnak province in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast which borders Iraq, the general staff said in a statement on its Internet site.

Listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, the PKK has been fighting for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Turkey has stepped up action against the group since December and has carried out several air strikes and a week-long ground incursion into northern Iraq, where it says more than 2,000 PKK rebels take refuge.

The Turkish army said Saturday that its latest air raid on a major PKK stronghold in northern Iraq last week killed more than 150 rebels, adding that senior rebel commanders may have been among the dead.