Four Turkish soldiers die in bombing

Four Turkish soldiers have died after a bomb exploded near the vehicle they were travelling on the mainly Kurdish southeast border with Iraq.

Four Turkish soldiers have been killed in the town of Semdinli, in the mainly Kurdish southeast near the Iraqi border, after a bomb exploded as their vehicle travelled past, security sources say.

The military deployed troops backed by helicopters to the area to launch an operation in the wake of the attack on Wednesday, they said.

The army and police have been battling militants in the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the southeast since a ceasefire collapsed in July 2015, wrecking a peace process aimed at resolving one of Europe's longest-running insurgencies.