Twenty-six members of the Turkish security forces were killed and 18 others injured in Turkey's southeastern province of Hakkari early on Wednesday in simultaneous attacks carried out by the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), the private Dogan news agency reported.

PKK rebels attacked several military and police buildings and killed 26 soldiers and police officers in several locations in the predominately Kurdish province near the Iraqi border, a day after they killed five police officers and three civilians in Bitlis province in southeastern Turkey, the report said.

A Kurdish news agency said the Turkish forces has crossed into Iraq in pursuit of the PKK members, who has recently intensified attacks on Turkish troops, police and civilians. Turkish officials vowed to reciprocate with absolute determination.

Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, the PKK took up arms in 1984 to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. More than 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the PKK during the past over two decades.