Ankara, May 5 (IANS) Turkey has killed 28 Kurdish militants in retaliation to an attack which left three Turkish soldiers dead, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

On Saturday, three Turkish soldiers were killed and one was injured in a mortar attack by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey southeastern Hakkari province, Xinhua news agency reported.

The attack targeted a military base in the border province of Hakkari, according to the Ministry.

Meanwhile, one Turkish soldier was killed and another was wounded after an attack by the Syrian Kurdish militia in the mainly Kurdish-controlled northern Syrian region of Tel Rifaat.

Turkish army had responded with aerial bombardments and artillery fire both in Turkey's Hakkari and Syria's Tel Rifaat, the Ministry said.

The PKK, regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU, has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

--IANS pgh/