ANKARA (AFP) -- A landmine laid by Kurdish separatist rebels has derailed a freight train in eastern Turkey, while another in the same region injured four Turkish soldiers, officials said Friday.

Two drivers were injured in the attack late Thursday on the train at Bingol, which derailed the locomotive and five wagons.
The soldiers were hurt the same day in the mountainous Genc area in Sirrt Province, the army said in a statement.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has stepped up attacks this year.
The group has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish areas in the east and southeast since 1984 in a bloody conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives