At least 10 people were wounded in the attack on a post of the Turkish gendarmerie outside the city of Mardin which was carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'' Party (PKK), the sources said.

The gendarmerie is a branch of the Turkish army which looks after domestic security.

The PKK has staged near daily attacks against the Turkish security forces since a two-and-a-half-year truce collapsed last July.

The government has launched military operations against the group inside urban centres in southeast Turkey which activists claim have caused needless civilian casualties.

The army said Saturday that the day before security forces had killed 17 PKK militants in clashes in Semdinli in the southeastern Hakkari province and also two militants in Baskale in Van province.

The PKK in June claimed a bombing outside police headquarters in Midyat, also in Mardin province, that killed six people, including a pregnant policewoman.

Meanwhile the militant Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) -- seen as an splinter group of the PKK -- had claimed a car bombing in the centre of Istanbul in June that killed 11 people.