Turkish soldier killed in rebel clash-officials

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Aug 18 (Reuters) A Turkish soldier was killed in a clash with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in southeast Turkey near the border with Iraq today, security officials said.

After the clash in Hakkari province, the army launched a large-scale operation in the area to hunt down PKK militants.

Dozens of soldiers have been killed this year in an escalation of separatist violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast, prompting army calls for a raid into northern Iraq to attack rebels based there.

The AK Party government, reelected last month, has resisted the powerful army's calls, while still refusing to rule out a move into northern Iraq.

Senior security sources say Ankara has raised troop levels in the southeast to more than 200,000 as part of a crackdown on the PKK, which has been fighting for an ethnic homeland since 1984.

REUTERS SKB PM1847