Eight Turkish soldiers have been killed and 14 others wounded in an attack by Kurdish rebels near the Iraqi border, BBC reports Saturday, citing Turkish military officials.

Members of the separatist Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) launched an attack near the city of Semdinli in the Hakkari province, making it the deadliest for the Turkish military since April 2009, when nine soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb, blamed on the PKK.

Subsequent clashes resulted in the deaths of twelve rebels and Turkish aircraft have bombed PKK positions in Iraq.

In April, the Turkish, Iraqi and US authorities signed a security pact to combat the threat posed by the PKK, which is classified by the US and EU as a terrorist organization.

The PKK has been fighting for a Kurdish homeland within Turkey since 1984 with more than 40 000 people killed in the resulting conflict.

Over the past month clashes between the two sides have escalated.

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