A shootout between soldiers and the PKK terror group in the Lice district of southeastern Turkey's Diyarbakır province has left one soldier dead and two wounded.

The security forces came into contact with a number of PKK terrorists in the Dibek village of Lice, telling them to surrender but met with gunfire instead.

A helicopter airlifted three soldiers who were wounded in the clashes to Selahattin Eyyubi State Hospital, where they received medical treatment.

Despite all efforts, one specialist sergeant succumbed to his wounds in the hospital.

An operation across six districts and 104 villages of Diyarbakır province began on May 28, with 7,742 security personnel attempting to clear the PKK from the area.

The Turkish air force has been conducting regular air strikes on PKK facilities in both northern Iraq and Turkey since July 2015.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.

More than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the terrorist group resumed its decades-long armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.