ANKARA, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish military said Monday that bodies of two missing soldiers in the Friday attack by the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) have been found.

    The Turkish General Staff said in a statement posted on its website that the bodies of two expert sergeants, Nurullah Oymak and Bahattin Erturhan, have been found by security forces earlier on Monday in Semdinli town in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

    The two soldiers were missing on Friday afternoon when the PKK based in northern Iraq attacked Aktutun Gendarmerie Border Unit in Semdinli town in Hakkari, in which 15 of Turkish soldiers and 23 PKK militants were also killed in the clashes.

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

    Ankara has conducted frequent air raids on suspected positions of the PKK in northern Iraq. In February, it also launched an eight-day cross-border ground incursion against PKK rebels.