Istanbul: Turkey sent extra troops, reconnaissance planes and armed helicopters into its eastern Agri province on Saturday after four soldiers were wounded in a clash with Kurdish insurgents, the military said.
The fighting was centred in Agri`s Diyadin district near the Iranian border, the military said on its website. The government said the PKK rebels were trying to destabilise the country before a parliamentary election in June.
"Terrorists with rifles opened fire on our forces, who immediately returned fire," the military said. "We have sent reconnaissance planes, armed helicopters and additional ground troops to the region and the clash is still ongoing."
No one from the PKK was immediately available for comment.
Ankara and the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) agreed to a ceasefire two years ago, as part of negotiations to end a three-decade insurgency that has killed 40,000 people.
But the fragile peace process has been strained ahead of the election.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has invested significant political capital in the peace process that started in 2012 and his authority, to some extent, is linked to its success.
A sweeping majority for the AK Party he founded would allow it to change the constitution and give Erdogan the broader presidential power he seeks.
Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan, a government negotiator in the peace talks, said the attacks were aimed at causing instability ahead of the election.
"Attempts against public order, election safety and the peace of the nation cannot be tolerated," he said on Twitter. "To put hopes on guns in an election is a sign of desperation and disrespect of the national will."
Speaking in the nearby province in Erzurum, former Interior Minister Efkan Ala said those who had carried out the attacks had been "neutralised".
Last month Turkish forces exchanged fire with Kurdish rebels in the southeast, the Turkish military said, just days after jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan said the group`s insurgency had become "unsustainable".
