At least two Turkish soldiers have been killed in a shoot-out with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in northeastern Turkey, officials say.

Local security sources said on Sunday that the soldiers were killed after Turkish security forces launched a raid on the PKK positions in the Kazman district of Kars Province.

At least another soldier was injured while three PKK militants were killed in the clash.

Security forces also reportedly seized a large amount of arms and ammunition from the militants’ hideouts.

Also on Saturday, three Turkish soldiers were killed in a powerful bomb explosion in the Karliova district of the eastern province of Bingol.

Three soldiers were also killed in an exchange of fire with the PKK militants during the late hours of Friday in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

Figures show more than 40 soldiers have been killed in clashes with the PKK militants over the past weeks.

In recent weeks, the Ankara government has been engaged in one of its biggest security operations in the southern border region. The Turkish military has been conducting offensives against purported positions of Daesh in northern Syria as well as those of the PKK in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey.

Turkish forces started operations in the wake of the deadly July 20 bomb attack in the southern Turkish town of Suruc – an ethnically Kurdish town located close to the Kurdish town of Kobani on the other side of the border in Syria – which killed over 30 people. The Turkish government blamed Daesh for the bombing.

Seeking self-rule, the PKK has been engaged in militancy in southeastern Turkey for decades. An unstable ceasefire with the government, which had been in place since 2013, was declared null by the militants after the Turkish airstrikes began against the group.