Fighting raged in a flashpoint town in southeastern Turkey as the death toll mounted from attacks blamed on Kurdish rebels and local lawmakers warned of a humanitarian crisis.
Turkish security forces backed up by tanks and combat helicopters launched a large-scale operation against the militants in the battered town of Silvan, which has been under a punishing curfew for nine days.
Local MPs have warned that the mainly Kurdish town of 90,000 people is facing dire shortages of water, food and electricity and one accused Ankara of trying to "massacre" the population.
One soldier and one police officer were killed in clashes yesterday with members of the youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), security sources and the provincial governor's office said.
At least four other soldiers and a policeman were injured in the unrest, according to the same sources.
Five rebels were also killed in the Turkish operation, the Diyarbakir governor's office said in a statement.
"The operations against the terrorists will continue with determination," it said.
Also, Kurdish militants detonated a car bomb on a road in the neighbouring province of Mardin as a police convoy was passing, killing a municipal worker and wounding a police officer, Dogan news agency said.
Three police officers were killed and another was wounded late Tuesday when they came under a hail of rockets and automatic weapons fire while patrolling the town of Silopi, about 160 kilometres southeast of Silvan, security sources said.
