( AFP ) - A separatist Kurdish rebel and a civilian were killed in a botched suicide attack in eastern Turkey while fighting elsewhere left five rebels and a government militia member dead, local security sources and officials said Sunday.
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels stopped an oil-laden truck late Saturday in the eastern province of Tunceli, and a militant armed with bombs boarded next to the driver in an attempt to carry out a suicide attack against a military outpost.
Paramilitary troops on duty at the station opened fire on the truck as it was approaching the building at which point the vehicle exploded, killing the driver and the rebel.
After the blast, rebels positioned in the vicinity opened fire on the building with long-range assault rifles.
There were no losses on the Turkish side.
Tunceli has recently seen an increase in violence between PKK rebels and the army. Earlier this month, seven soldiers and a PKK member were killed when the militants attacked another military outpost there with hand grenades and firearms.
In the southeastern province of Hakkari, which borders Iran and Iraq, Turkish soldiers killed three PKK rebels late Saturday during a security operation, the governor's office said in a statement.
In Diyarbakir, also in the southeast, two Kurdish rebels and a government militia member were killed in a clash that erupted late Saturday, the local governor's office said.
A second militia member was wounded, it added.
The militia are local men employed by the government to help in the fight against the PKK.
The PKK has stepped up attacks this year and the Turkish military has called for an incursion into adjoining northern Iraq where the rebels have bases.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara would focus on fighting the rebels inside Turkey and seek dialogue with Baghdad to resolve the issue.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule.