Kurdish militants killed three Turkish soldiers in Turkey's southeast on Saturday, the Turkish Armed Forces said, in a further blow to peace talks between Ankara and the insurgents.

Three members of the "separatist terrorist organization", a term used by the army to describe the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), shot the soldiers who were in plain clothes, the army said in a statement. The soldiers were buying electrical supplies for the military post where they served, media said.

On Friday, soldiers shot dead three PKK guerrillas after fighters from the outlawed group set fire to two vehicles and a power plant in the eastern province of Kars and shot at soldiers who returned fire.

Reuters