Two Turkish soldiers killed in suspected PKK attack

KIRIKDAG, Turkey (Reuters) - Two Turkish soldiers were killed by a landmine on a road in southeast Turkey on Monday in an attack believed to have been carried out by Kurdish militants, security sources said.

The attack by suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) also wounded several soldiers travelling in an armored vehicle between Hakkari and Van provinces, the sources said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, launched a separatist insurgency in southeastern Turkey 28 years ago. More than 40,000 people have since been killed.

The violence is a headache for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as he seeks to limit the impact on Turkey of the conflict in Syria, where the PKK is exerting growing authority in some border areas. Ankara believes PKK militants are receiving arms from Syrian forces.

Suspected PKK members ambushed a Turkish military bus in western Turkey earlier this month, an attack outside the group's regular field of operation in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

(Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan, Writing by Ece Toksabay, Editing by Nick Tattersall and Alistair Lyon)