One soldier of Turkish security forces was killed in a landmine explosion in eastern province of Bitlis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.

The landmine, planted by militants of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), exploded when a gendarmerie team was on their patrol duty in Celtikli region of the province, leaving one soldier dead, said Anatolia.

The security forces have been staging large-scale operations in pursuit of PKK militants who are taking terrorist activities in the region, added the report.

Turkish Land Forces Commander General Ilker Basbug said on March 10 that PKK members infiltrated into Turkey from northern Iraq, where about 3,500 to 3,800 PKK members were located.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, began launching an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking decades of strife that has claimed more than 30, 000 lives.

Source: Xinhua