The three policemen were targeted by Kurdish rebels who detonated a remote-controlled mine close to a police station in the eastern town of Tunceli, a hotbed of fighting between rebels and security forces, local security forces said.

The attack was blamed on the PKK, which is classified as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Three would-be PKK bombers, including a woman, were arrested in possession of 1.5 kilos (3.3 pounds) of explosives in Alanya, a popular Mediterranean seaside resort in southern Turkey, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Police also suspect the woman of planting a bomb that killed a policeman and injured four others on April 30, 2005, in Kusadasi, a resort on the Aegan Sea.

At least 96 PKK militants and 64 members of the security forces have been killed in separatist violence this year, according to an AFP count.

The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than 37,000 lives since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast.