The Turkish army killed 14 of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels during an operation near the Iraqi border that also left one soldier dead.

The Turkish army killed 14 of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels during an operation near the Iraqi border that also left one soldier dead, an official statement said Tuesday.

"A crowded group of terrorists were engaged after they were spotted preparing an attack against a border post on January 7," the governor's office in the southeastern city of Hakkari said in a statement.

The statement added that a Turkish soldier was killed and two others injured during the shootout with the rebels.

The violence comes amid renewed hopes in Turkey that fresh talks with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan could result in a ceasefire and an end to the long-running Kurdish insurgency in the southeast.

The PKK is labeled as a terrorist organization by Turkey, where about 45,000 people have been killed since the party took up arms for autonomy in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984.