Seven Dead In Turkey - PKK Clashes In East Turkey

In a separate clash, one PKK rebel was killed in the province of Sirnak.

A Turkish army officer and two soldiers were killed along with four Kurdish separatist rebels in clashes in eastern Turkey on Wednesday, security sources said.

Five soldiers were wounded as Turkish security forces, backed by helicopters, fought the guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the mountainous region of Agri near the border with Iran late on Wednesday, the sources said.

Two soldiers and four members of the PKK were killed and four soldiers were wounded in another firefight with separatist rebels in the predominantly-Kurdish southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

In a separate clash, one PKK rebel was killed in the province of Sirnak.

Turkey has stepped up military action against the PKK since its guerrillas killed 17 soldiers in a raid in southeast Turkey in October.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara as well as the United States and the European Union.

Some 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 1984 when the Kurdish rebels first picked up arms to carve out an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey.