Three Turkish soldiers were also wounded in the clashes that erupted in the village of Agacdibi, located around 20 kilometers south of Hakkari province bordering Iraq and Iran, security sources said on Saturday.

Separately in Sirnak province bordering Iraq, several Turkish attack helicopters bombed PKK positions near Cudi and Gabar mountains in support of ground troops carrying out operations in the area.

On Friday, Turkish security forces carried out two separate counter-terrorism operations against PKK militants in Hakkari province, killing five of them.

Late on Thursday, seven paramilitary policemen, a soldier and a sergeant lost their lives when PKK militants launched an assault in the eastern province of Agri. Three soldiers and two civilians were also injured in the attack.

Turkish military forces have been conducting ground operations as well as airstrikes against PKK positions in Turkey’s troubled southeastern border region and Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region over the past year.

Turkey’s southeastern region has been the scene of violence since the collapse of a ceasefire between the government and PKK militants in July 2015.

The PKK, which has been calling for an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984, has since carried out several attacks on police and military posts in the largely Kurdish region.

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