Turkey says 15 Turkish soldiers and 23 Kurdish rebels were killed after a rebel attack on a military post near the Iraqi border which prompted a military air and ground response.
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels launched the assault on the the border station in Semdinli town in Hakkari province - under cover of heavy weapons' fire from bases in northern Iraq.
Turkish forces responded with artillery fire and attack helicopters.
More than 40,000 people are thought to have been killed since 1984, when the PKK launched its campaign for a Kurdish homeland in south-eastern Turkey.
