3 Turkish soldiers killed in PKK attack in east

Three Turkish soldiers were killed on Saturday in a bomb attack blamed on Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in the east of the country, the army said.

The deaths were the latest in an escalating cycle of violence between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels that has left a 2013 ceasefire in tatters.

The soldiers were killed when an explosive device planted on a road in the Karliova district of the eastern Bingol province was detonated, the army said in a statement.

"Three of our soldiers were martyred and six wounded," the army said.

The attack in Karliova came a day after three other troops were killed and six soldiers wounded in a separate PKK attack late on Friday in the Daglica area of the southeastern Hakkari region.

After a series of attacks in Turkey, Ankara has launched a two-pronged offensive to bomb Islamic State militants in Syria and PKK rebels in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey.

So far, the operation has focused largely on the Kurdish rebels, who have responded by waging a bloody campaign against the security forces.

A Turkish official said on Saturday that 39 members of the security forces have died in attacks it blamed on the PKK.