A car bomb exploded in southeast Turkey on Sunday as a police vehicle passed by, killing one person and wounding 12 others, security sources told Reuters.

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The blast occurred in the town of Semdinli in Hakkari province on Turkey's borders with Iraq and Iran, a scene of frequent conflict in recent months between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants. Two of those wounded were believed to be in a serious condition, the sources said.

The electricity supply in the town was cut off after the blast, Dogan news agency reported.

The area is a focus of activity for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has several thousand fighters based in the mountains of neighbouring northern Iraq.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the PKK's conflict with Turkey since the militants took up arms in 1984 with the aim of carving out a state in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country. The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.