DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Two Turkish soldiers were killed and one was wounded in a clash with members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey, security sources said on Sunday.
Fighting erupted late on Saturday when the soldiers encountered PKK militants after launching an operation near the town of Nusaybin on the Syrian border, the sources said on condition their names were not used.
The operation was still underway on Sunday, they said.
The conflict between the military and PKK has escalated since the start of June when the rebels ended a 14-month unilateral ceasefire, saying a government initiative to expand Kurdish minority rights had failed.
More than 100 military personnel have been killed since March, already exceeding the death toll throughout all of 2009.
The PKK, mainly based in northern Iraq, took up arms against Turkey in 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in the fighting. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan, writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
