Three Turkish soldiers were killed Sunday in an attack by PKK terrorists in southeastern Hakkari province neighboring Iraq.

The soldiers had been protecting a road building team in the Dağlıca district of the province close to the Iraqi border, it added.

One soldier was also wounded in the attack in eastern Hakkari province where the terrorists launched a rocket from a mountainous area on the Iraqi side of the border, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

An operation has been launched to nab the terrorists in the region.

The authorities are still battling the three-decade insurgency of the PKK which initially took up arms for a separate state but now demands more autonomy.

Ankara backed peace talks in the early years of the decade but a ceasefire collapsed in 2015 and there have been deadly clashes ever since.