The governor of the Turkish province of Sirnak, Vahdettin Ozkan, said rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had attacked a Turkish security complex at Beytussebap, a mountain town near the border, killing nine soldiers and policemen. A tenth guard died later from wounds, officials added.

Other local sources said some 20 PKK militants were also killed. Sources said the fighting began late on Sunday and continued on Monday.

Syria's President Bashar Assad, who is battling an internal 17-month uprising, rejected claims by Turkey that his regime was using the PKK to undermine Ankara, during an interview with the Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet in July.

That followed a claim by the deputy chairman of Turkey's ruling AKP party, Huseyin Celik, that the "PKK works hand in hand with Syria's intelligence organization Al-Mukhabarat." Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan had also warned of military intervention if the Kurdish rebels set up bases in Syria.

But last Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu played down those assertions, saying Turkey's strife with the PKK had "lasted for 30 years" and it was "not possible to explain terror with one factor."

Last month, Turkish officials blamed a car bombing in the city of Gaziantep, also near Turkey's border with Syria, on the PKK, which had fought the Turkish state for decades.

Kurdish minorities

Turkey and Syria both have Kurdish minorities which have complained of repression by authorities in the respective countries.

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

Other Kurdish parties operate in the complex and mountainous border region, which also spans Iraq. They include the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, which controls the northern Syrian town of Afrin.

ipj/tj (AFP, Reuters)