The two rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) opened fire on an armoured police vehicle on patrol in the town of Gercus in Batman province late Sunday, wounding an officer, the sources said.

Hours later, anti-terror police raided the house where the militants were hiding, killing them in the subsequent clash, the sources said.

A police officer was also wounded in the operation and he later succumbed to his injuries at hospital.

The violence came just ahead of a cabinet meeting Monday during which the government is expected to discuss a tough response to mounting violence by the PKK.

"We have so far tried to handle this issue with patience... to resolve this problem with a democratic approach... (but) these are not acts that one can put up with," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech on Sunday.

"I have to say that the cabinet meeting tomorrow (Monday) is poised for many things," he said.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, has fought for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Clashes in the region have been on the rise since June 2004 when the PKK called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire. The rebels have also carried out several bomb attacks in urban centres this year.