TUNCELI, Turkey, May 9 (Reuters) - Turkish military sources said at least 20 Kurdish separatists and two Turkish soldiers were killed after Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas attacked a military base in southeast Turkey on Friday.

Turkish warplanes bombed rural areas along Turkey's border with Iraq after some 50 PKK members from northern Iraq attacked a gendarme station near the border, killing two soldiers, at about 1700 GMT.

The bombing killed 20 militants, the military sources said. No further details were available.

The fighting came after landmines killed two soldiers earlier in the day. Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since 1984, when the separatists took up arms to fight for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey. (Editing by Andrew Roche)

AlertNet news is provided by