TUNCELI, Turkey, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Three Turkish soldiers and three village guards fighting alongside them were killed in clashes with Kurdish separatists in southeastern Turkey on Sunday, the governor of Hakkari province said.

Army sources said three helicopters were carrying new troops to the area near the Iraqi border, where fighting is continuing with Kurdish rebels, and two army helicopters were bombing the mountainous area.

Two or three thousand Turkish troops were involved in the fighting, the sources said.

Analysts say the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), weakened by Turkey's military attacks on its hideouts in northern Iraq, has stepped up attacks on civilians and military targets.

The PKK launched its armed insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Turkey, like the European Union and Washington, considers the group a terrorist organisation.

AlertNet news is provided by