Three Turkish soldiers die in blast blamed on outlawed PKK

The wounded soldiers were taken to hospital, Hakkari Governor Muammer Türker told reporters.

An explosive device was set off by remote control as a foot patrol moved through a field late on Monday in the southeastern province of Hakkari, security sources said on condition of anonymity.

Thousands of Turkish soldiers are in the mountainous border region conducting operations amid the spring thaw, the sources said, a time when hostilities with the terrorist PKK traditionally resume.

Two soldiers were killed in blasts in eastern Turkey earlier this month, and PKK terrorists killed a soldier on March 14 in the first gunfight with the Turkish armed forces this year.

The PKK, based largely in northern Iraq, promised in April 2009 that it would take no offensive actions, but has warned in recent weeks it could resume attacks.