At least six members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have been killed in skirmishes with Turkish security troopers in Turkey’s eastern province of Mus.

Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that Turkish forces launched an operation in Varto district of the province, located approximately 959 kilometers east of the capital, Ankara, the previous day. 

The Turkish soldiers then engaged in a firefight with the Kurdish PKK fighters, and killed six of them.

There were no reports of casualties on the side of Turkish government forces.

Early on Sunday, at least one Turkish soldier and three PKK members were killed near the town of Kagizman in Turkey’s eastern province of Kars. The fatalities were caused as Turkish army forces mounted an operation to capture the Kurdish militants.

Meanwhile, the Turkish army said in a statement on Saturday that three army soldiers were killed, when a powerful roadside bombing targeted them in the Karliova district of Turkey’s eastern province of Bingol. 

Three other soldiers were also killed in an exchange of fire with PKK militants during the late hours of August 14 in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

Turkey has been launching airstrikes against purported Daesh targets in Syria as well as PKK positions in Iraq, after a bomb attack left 32 people dead in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc, across the border from the northern Syrian town of Kobani, on July 20. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack a day after. The PKK later killed two Turkish police officers, saying they had been collaborating with Daesh. 

A shaky ceasefire that had stood since 2013 was declared as null by the PKK following the Turkish airstrikes against the group, narrowing chances of the two sides reaching a deal in the near future.

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

Some observers have expressed doubt about the Turkish intentions in the airstrikes. They say Turkey, which already stands accused of having supported Daesh, cannot be serious in the fight against the terrorist group. Ankara, they say, is more seriously inclined to target the PKK, which Ankara considers as its enemy number one.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.