A landmine explosion killed two Turkish soldiers and wounded another two people Friday in southeastern Turkey in an attack blamed on Kurdish rebels.

A landmine explosion killed two Turkish soldiers and wounded another two people Friday in southeastern Turkey in an attack blamed on Kurdish rebels, local sources said.

Moustafa Toprak, the governor of Diyarbakir province, told the state-run Anadolu agency the remotely-controlled bomb was hidden in a culvert on a road in the town of Lice and was detonated as a military vehicle passed by.

Toprak says a soldier and a civilian were also wounded in Friday's explosion, which prompted security forces to launch a massive operation in the region, they added.

Kurdish rebels are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast. The conflict between the rebels and Turkey has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.