DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Kurdish militants attacked Turkish security forces in southeast Turkey early on Monday, killing three soldiers and wounding one, security sources said.
They said the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants staged the attack in the Kuyutepe military base area of Sirnak province.
The militants have been fighting a decades-long war against Ankara in quest for an independent state in southeastern Turkey, in which around 40,000 people have been killed.
Since January, Turkey has also been waging a concerted operation against Kurdish militants known as People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria. The Turkish administration says the YPG is associated with the PKK.
The Syria attacks have, however, forgone Damascus' approval. They have also pit Turkey against the United States which supports the militants.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says thousands of YPG militants had been "neutralized” since the beginning of an operation in Turkey, meaning they had either surrendered or been killed or captured.

Turkish-backed Syrian militants advance during the fight to seize control of the town of Jandairis, in Syria's Afrin region, on March 8, 2018.