ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkish troops killed two separatist Kurdish rebels Sunday in a clash in southern Turkey, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Two soldiers were also killed in separate fighting in the southeast of the country.

The rebels were killed in the southern province of Hatay, which borders Syria, after they ignored soldiers' call for them to surrender, Anatolia reported.

The soldiers died in a fight in Sirnak province, which borders Iraq, late Saturday, when a group of rebels opened fire on the security forces, the agency reported.

More than 37,000 people have died in fighting since autonomy-seeking rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.

Last month, the head of Turkey's armed forces said several large-scale offensives against the rebels had been launched in the southeast of the country, and requested permission to launch an operation into northern Iraq to attack the guerrillas at their bases there.