( Reuters ) - A Turkish soldier was killed and three others injured in clashes with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas in southeast Turkey on Tuesday, security sources said.
The lieutenant was killed in Sirnak province near the border with Iraq. Private broadcasters CNN Turk and NTV said a total of four soldiers had been killed in the clash.
Amid an escalation of violence in which dozens of people have been killed this year, Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops along the border for a possible incursion to deal with PKK guerrillas based in Iraq.
The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, is blamed for almost 40,000 deaths since the start of its separatist campaign in 1984.