Nine soldiers and eight civilians have been killed when Kurdish militants detonated a car bomb outside a military checkpoint in south-east Turkey, the local governor said.

Kurdish rebels have detonated a car bomb in south-east Turkey, killing an 11-year-old child and wounding 18 other people.

Turkish troops killed more than 30 Kurdish rebels as they set up an ambush near the border with Iraq, it emerged today.

Armoured police cars were guarding government offices and authorities were distributing bread in a south-eastern Turkish town today, after a violent Kurdish riot left at least three people dead and 16 injured.