Soldiers killed 12 of the Marxist separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, which launched the raid on an isolated military post near the city of Semdinli in Hakkari province.

Military officials also said that Turkish warplanes crossed the border to bomb PKK positions in Iraq.

The PKK raid took place at 2 a.m., a statement by the Turkish General Staff said.

"Eight soldiers were martyred and 14 wounded in the clashes," the statement said.

"The wounded have been taken to hospitals. Reinforcements were sent to the region and throughout the night support was provided to the conflict zone by attack helicopters and artillery. Separately, the air force struck targets identified in the northern region of Iraq."

The fighting is the latest since the PKK launched in 1984 its military campaign for a Kurdish homeland encompassing part of south east Turkey that borders on northwest Iraq, also a dominantly Kurdish area.

Last week Turkish troops crossed into Iraq and killed four PKK fighters after they attacked a Turkish border post. The military said it believes around 4,000 PKK are based across the border in Iraq and around another 2,500 operate inside Turkey.

The military also said that more than 40 soldiers had been killed in fighting the PKK since the beginning of May. But more than 130 PKK have been killed in air raids and incursions into Iraq.

Turkey, the European Union and the United States have declared the PKK a terrorist organization. More than 40,000 people on both sides have died in the fighting.

Turkish military have been on higher alert now that warmer weather has arrived in the mountainous areas of southeast Turkey.

But the PKK often strike further into Turkey, as they did at the end of May when they attacked a Turkish post near the eastern Mediterranean city of Iskenderun close to the Syrian border. Six Turkish soldiers were killed and seven seriously wounded in the rocket attack just after midnight on the naval base, a rare target for the PKK.

Kurdish rebels also attacked the offices of a mining company in the region, killing a security guard and wounding two more.

Despite the fighting with Kurdish rebels, the Turkish government in the capital Ankara has relented and given some cultural autonomy to the Kurds, such as Kurdish-language media. But Kurdish is still not allowed as the language for teaching in schools and universities.

For its part the PKK dropped in 1990s its demand for outright independence from Turkey.

In a major blow to PKK organization, their leader Abdullah Ocalan was captured in 1999. He was taken in Kenya while being transferred from the Greek Embassy to Nairobi international airport in an operation by Turkey's civilian-led National Intelligence Organization with, according to some analysts, help from the CIA.

A Turkish court sentenced Ocalan to death but he remains in prison on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara, south of Istanbul.

Since 2006 Ocalan has been cooperating with the Turkish government to find a way to end the fighting and controversially called on the PKK to start negotiating with Ankara.

However, he recently gave notice that because of ongoing frustrations at a lack of progress toward a peaceful end to the situation, he decided the PKK must do what it considers best, including armed attacks.

Analysts have said Ocalan's statement may be the reason for what appears to be an increase in fighting by the PKK.

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