Mines kill Turkish soldier, injure 2 in southeast

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, May 22 (Reuters) A Turkish soldier was killed and two were injured today by mines in the mainly Kurdish southeast, where security forces are fighting separatist rebels, security officials said.

A sergeant was killed and another soldier was injured when they drove over a mine in the province of Diyarbakir. Nearby in Bingol province, a mine laid at a gendarmerie paramilitary police post wounded another soldier, the officials said.

Attacks blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have increased in recent months, while Ankara has sent thousands more troops to the mountainous area to fight the rebels, who launched a campaign for a Kurdish homeland in 1984.

Ankara, which like the European Union and the United States considers the PKK a terrorist organisation, blames the group for 30,000 deaths.

REUTERS PG PM1629