According to initial reports, the accident occurred on Van-Erciş highway when the minbus and the truck collided head-on.

Students were on their way to an open education exam.

Many ambulances and medical units were sent to the spot along with rescue teams. Injured students were taken to nearby hospitals.

An investigation has been launched.

Şırnak governor's office said that 11 members of the seperatist Kurdistan Workers' Party were neutralized during the raids, conducted in the districts of Cizre and Silopi on November 11.

Meanwhile, six neighbourhoods in Şırnak's Beytüşşebab district were declared as special security zone for 15 days to ensure public order.

The governor's office said the decision to declare six neighborhoods as special security zone between Novermber 12 and 27 aims to ensure public security and to prevent terrorists from hiding in the land and committing crimes.

In elsewhere in the Southeast, a sergeant was martyred after fierce clashes erupted with the PKK terrorists in Van province on Friday.

An initial report said that security forces raided on a flat in the province's Erçiş district; acting on an intelligence report which said it was housing PKK members. The sergeant participating operation died immediately on the scene when the terrorists opened fire with long-barrelled weapons, refusing to surrender.

The operation in Van is reportedly underway.

Thirteen Turkish soldiers were wounded when their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb detonated by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, terrorists in the Başkale district of the eastern province of Van on Monday night, the governor's offica said in a statement.

“Thirteen soldiers, including one critically, were injured in the explosion,” the statement said.

The PKK militants detonated previously planted handmade explosives, while the military vehicle was crossing near the Çamlık area of Başkale-Hakkari highway. The huge explosion was powerful enough to turn a hedgehog-type armored vehicle upside down and wounded more than a dozen soldiers. They were initially taken to the Başkale Public Hospital by ambulances and then transferred to another hospital by helicopters.

The Van Governorship said that a second attack involving planted handmade explosives took place Tuesday at 01.47 a.m (2247GMT Monday) injuring 11 soldiers.

PKK terrorists are suspected of having detonated the planted handmade explosives by remote control.

A broad operation has been launched in the region to detain the assailants.

In recent months, the pro-Kurdish separatist group has intensified its attacks targeting both security officers and civilians in the Kurdish populated southeastern provinces.

The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, EU and the US, ended a 2-year-long ceasefire in early July and resumed its terror incidents.

The Turkish government vowed to annihilate the terror group as it declared to continue operations against the terror group until they lay down their arms or leave the country.

About 123 security personnel have been martyred in recent violence, while the government declared that nearly 1,200 armed elements of the terror organization have been killed by the security forces.