Three Turkish soldiers shot dead, PKK blamed

Masked gunmen have shot dead three Turkish soldiers in the restive Kurdish-majority southeast of the country, the army says, blaming separatist "terrorists".

Three Turkish soldiers have been shot dead in the restive Kurdish-majority southeast of the country. (AAP)

The three soldiers were shot dead on Saturday while off duty and walking on the street in the town of Yuksekova in Hakkari province of Turkey's extreme southeast bordering Iraq and Iran.

The attackers escaped but a security operation was underway to apprehend them, the official Anatolia agency said.

Reports said that the victims had been shot in the head, from behind, while walking in the centre of the town to collect electrical equipment from a police station.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

But in a statement the army blamed "three terrorists from the separatist terrorist organisation", in a clear reference to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the military never mentions by name.

Some 40,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the three-decade-long insurgency waged by the outlawed PKK for Kurdish self-rule and greater rights in Turkey's southeast.

The PKK has largely observed a ceasefire since March 2013 as the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) seeks to thrash out a historic peace agreement with the rebels.

In a statement the army blamed "three terrorists from the separatist terrorist organisation", in a clear reference to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the military never mentions by name.

But there has been an upsurge in tensions in recent weeks over the government's cautious policy on helping the mainly Kurdish Syrian border town of Kobane, which has been besieged by jihadists of the Islamic State.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed the attack on those who wanted to use the Kobane situation to "plunge Turkey into chaos and turmoil".

"These days are a test for everyone," the official Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying in the central city of Kayseri.

"We will take whatever measures are necessary to ensure our national unity and peace in our country," he added.

But he insisted the government's drive to make peace in the southeast would continue, saying the "peace process is not a process that will make concessions to terrorism".