Eight soldiers and a Kurdish "village guard" have been killed amid ongoing violence between Kurdish separatists and the government in Turkey.

Five soldiers and the guard were killed in clashes with the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

Separately, three soldiers were killed in landmine blasts, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

More than 37,000 people have died since the PKK launched an armed independence campaign in Turkey's southeast in 1984.

Terrorist group

Three of the soldiers were killed in a clash with rebels in eastern Bingol province, officials said.

In a separate clash, two other soldiers and a government-paid Kurdish militia man - known as a village guard - died in the mountainous Sirnak province that borders Iraq, 400km (300 miles) southeast of Bingol, the governor's office said.

Two soldiers were killed in a landmine explosion in nearby Bitlis province on Saturday. One other soldier died in another landmine blast on Sunday, Anatolia reported.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the European Union.

Turkish authorities rejected a ceasefire announced by the PKK in October.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Kurd holds a portrait of jailed rebel Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan during celebrations marking the Kurdish New Year 'Noruz' in Mersin, southern city of Turkey. (AFP)

Al-Jazeera