By Ekrem Payan and Yilmaz Kazandioglu

SIRNAK, Turkey

Two soldiers were martyred in southeastern Turkey’s Sirnak province Tuesday following a gun attack by PKK terrorists, a security source said.

According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, security personnel had detected a roadside bomb in Andac Village in the province’s Uludere district. When bomb disposal experts were examining the improvised explosive device, PKK terrorists opened fire on them, injuring a lieutenant and a soldier, the source said.

The two soldiers succumbed to their wounds at the Uludere State Hospital.

An operation was later launched in the region to nab the terrorists.

Separately, three soldiers were injured in southeastern Hakkari province's Semdinli district Tuesday, when a roadside bomb exploded as a military vehicle passed by.

A military helicopter airlifted the injured personnel to Hakkari State Hospital.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July last year. Since then, more than 600 security personnel have been martyred and more than 7,000 PKK terrorists killed.