Seventeen Turkish soldiers have been killed after their helicopter crashed in southeastern Turkey due to bad weather.

The Sikorsky helicopter crashed on Herekol mountain, in the Pervari area of Siirt province. The victims were members of the country's gendarmerie special forces and there were no survivors on board, the province's governor said.

The Turkish military has been carrying out operations on the mountain recently to flush out militants from outlawed separatist group the Kurdistan Workers Party, who have hideouts there.