Nine soldiers of the Turkish security forces were killed in a roadside blast in southeastern Turkey, Chief of the Turkish Armed Forces Gen. Ilker Basbug said Wednesday.

A tank and an armored personnel carrier were on a mission to secure the region when the explosion occurred, Basbug said in a televised press conference.

"The personnel carrier has around 4-4.5 centimeters of armor underneath. These explosives must have been strong to cause such damage. According to our initial assessment, it is likely to be a homemade explosive," he said, adding a probe was launched on the incident.

According to Turkish private NTV channel, the attack occurred in Lice district of southeastern province of Diyarbakir around 6:00 a.m. (0300 GMT).

The attack came only hours before Basbug's press conference to be held in the army headquarters.

The banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) has been launching attacks in southeastern and eastern Turkey for a long time.

The PKK took up arms in 1984 to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.

The Turkish forces take tougher actions against the PKK after the country's legislature extended the government's mandate to launch cross-border operations against the rebels in northern Iraq.

Turkish warplanes have been striking PKK targets in northern Iraq in the past few months.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2009)