Kurdish rebels stormed a Turkish army post on the Iraq border yesterday, triggering fighting that killed 22 people in the latest clash since Ankara launched a major offensive against the outlawed PKK.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack as a “dastardly” act and vowed to bring the rebels in line.

Six soldiers, two village guards and 14 Kurdish rebels were killed following the assault on an army post in a village in the southeastern province of Hakkari, the local governor told the Anatolia news agency. Three of the slain rebels were women, said governor Orhan Alimoglu.

Another 15 soldiers, one village guard and five civilians were wounded, according to a statement from the governor’s office cited by Anatolia.

The rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) launched simultaneous assaults on three border posts but the ­casualties occurred at a post in the village of Gecimli, the private NTV television station reported.

It was the deadliest clash since June when fighting between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels left 28 people dead following a similar attack on an army post in the same region.

Erdogan, in a statement posted on the prime minister’s office website, denounced Sunday’s attack as a “dastardly” act and said: “Terror is doomed to failure... sooner or later.”

In a stark warning, Erdogan also said Turkey had the strength to bring into line not only the PKK but also “hostile countries and environs that hold in their hands the terrorist organisation’s strings.” He did not name those countries.

A series of similar assaults against troops in the Kurdish-dominated southeast prompted the army to launch an all-out offensive against PKK bases in the area last month.