In the attack, late Wednesday, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels threw a hand grenade at the station, in the village of Karsilar in Tunceli province, and then opened fire on it, the source said.

An operation is underway to catch the assailants.

Violence in Turkey's mainly Kurdish-populated east and southeast has increased markedly since June 2004, when the PKK called off its five-year truce and the rebels started to penetrate Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq.

The Turkish army has recently amassed troops in the southeast, in areas along the borders with Iraq and Iran, to crack down on militants whose infiltrations increase with the arrival of spring.

Turkey says an estimated 5,000 PKK rebels have found refuge in northern Iraq since 1999 when the group, considered a terrorist organization by both Ankara and Washington, declared a unilateral ceasefire and withdrew from Turkey.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the southeast.