Two Turkish soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a roadside bomb attack in the southeast blamed on Kurdish militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), local media reported.

The attack took place when security forces were scanning mines on a highway between Mardin and Diyarbakir provinces, the private Dogan news agency reported.

The explosives had been placed by PKK militants who blew them up when a vehicle loaded with soldiers passed by, Dogan said.

The PKK is proscribed by Ankara, the United States and the European Union as a terror group.

The group has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 during which over 40,000 people have been killed.