Kurd militants suspected in deadly roadside blast in Turkey

Two members of the Turkish security forces were killed and eight others wounded on Monday in a roadside bomb suspected to have been planted by Kurdish militants in southeastern Turkey, local media reported.

The bomb planted by rebels from the outlawed PKK group exploded on a highway in Mardin province when a bus carrying members of the security forces passed by, the state news agency Anadolu reported.

The authorities have launched an operation to hunt down "fleeing terrorists", it added.

Dogan news agency said the victims were soldiers.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack on a busy route between the towns of Derik and Kiziltepe, which borders Syria.

The PKK has claimed responsibility for similar assaults on police and soldiers in the past.

The PKK, designated as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, has waged a bloody campaign against the Turkish state since it took up arms in 1984 for self-rule in the Kurdish majority southeast.

The Turkish army meanwhile said eight PKK members were "neutralised" on Sunday in ground and air operations in Hakkari province near the Iraqi border, Anadolu reported.

It said 320 PKK militants have been killed in Hakkari since the operations began several weeks ago.

The figures could not be independently verified.