One person was killed and five others injured in an attack staged by the militants of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey on Thursday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

A group of the PKK militants opened fire on a truck in Hakkari province, killing the truck driver, injuring two soldiers and three village guards, according to the report.

It said the injured were sent to Hakkari Military Hospital for treatment with a helicopter, adding that the Turkish security forces had launched an operation in pursuit of the group of the PKK militants.

The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. About 40,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.

Turkey has conducted frequent air raids on suspected positions of the PKK in northern Iraq, which serve as a launch pad for the rebel group's cross-border attacks on Turkey.

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