Three Turkish soldiers were killed in a raid staged by rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in southeast Turkey Saturday, the Turkish armed forces said in a statement.
Three PKK militants attacked Turkish troops in Yuksekova town of Hakkari province in the afternoon, killing two soldiers at the scene, Xinhua reported citing the statement, adding that another soldier died of his injuries in hospital.
The PKK, which has been listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and other countries, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland for the Kurds in southeast Turkey. Since then, over 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the group.
The Turkish authorities started peace negotiations with the PKK in October 2012, which led to a ceasefire in March 2013, but PKK fighters started to return to their strongholds in northern Iraq in May last year.