The clash took place late Thursday in the remote region of Ovacik, in Tunceli province, one of main zones of conflict in the Kurdish rebellion that started in 1984, the same sources said.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, on Saturday called a ceasefire following an upsurge in deadly violence.

The announcement followed an appeal by jailed party leader Abdullah Ocalan for a ceasefire to lay the ground for "a diplomatic dialogue" in the 22-year Kurdish conflict, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan swiftly rejected.

The army, which has been battling the party in mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey since 1984, has ignored other ceasefire announcements in the past.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party has fought for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984, with the conflict claiming more than 37,000 lives.