Three Turkish soldiers and four Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants were killed on Monday during clashes in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast region, security sources said.



The soldiers were on an operation in the Daglica district of Hakkari province, which borders Iraq, when the clashes broke out, the sources said. One Turkish soldier was also wounded, they added.



Turkey's southeast has been rocked by violence following the collapse of a 2-1/2-year ceasefire between the state and the PKK in July last year.



In security operations over the past week, 28 PKK militants were "neutralized", the Interior Ministry said on Monday.



More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the autonomy-seeking PKK took up arms in 1984. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.