Kurdish rebel mine blasts kill 3 Turkish soldiers

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Dec 6 (Reuters) Three Turkish soldiers were killed and 14 injured when roadside mines laid by Kurdish militants exploded in the southeast of the country, an official statement said today.

The convoy of soldiers was travelling from the town of Guclukonak for health tests in Sirnak, near the border with Iraq, when the blast occurred yesterday.

Guerrillas from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had planted the mine by the side of a main road and exploded it by remote control, the Sirnak governor's office said.

After the initial blast a second device exploded 10 metres further back along the road, the statement said.

The injured soldiers were being treated in military hospitals in Sirnak and Diyarbakir, the largest city in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

Military operations backed by air power were continuing in pursuit of the rebels, two days after security forces killed five guerrillas in a clash in the region.

The PKK called a unilateral ceasefire on October 1 but clashes between the guerrillas and Turkish security forces have continued unabated. Turkey has dismissed the ceasefire.

More than 30,000 people have died in the conflict since the group launched its separatist armed struggle in 1984. The European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, and the United States have put the PKK on their terrorism blacklist.

REUTERS LL VC1437