18 dead as Kurds attack Turkish forces

File photo of Turkish president Abdullah Gul, who condemned the attack.

• A government office says Kurdish rebels staged the attack
• The United States, Turkey and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist organization
• "I condemn this treacherous attack," Turkish President Abdullah Gul says

(CNN) -- Eighteen people were killed in southeastern Turkey during an attack early Tuesday.

Eight soldiers and 10 rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, were killed when the latter attacked a military station in the town of Yuksekova in Hakkari province, according to a statement from the the governor's office in Hakkari.

Sixteen other soldiers were wounded in the attack, government officials said.

Turkey, the United States and the European Union have formally labeled the PKK a terrorist organization. Turkish President Abdullah Gul had harsh words for the group's latest violence.

"I condemn this treacherous attack," he said. "The terrorist organization is still carrying out its inhumane and bloody acts in an effort to sabotage the atmosphere of trust and stability, and to weaken the strong determination to reinforce peace, reach a resolution, achieve the reign of peace and tranquility, and to put a stop to the pain and tears."

This is not the first time a military outpost in the area has been targeted. In 2007, 12 Turkish soldiers were killed and eight were kidnapped in an attack of an outpost there.

Turkey has been fighting against the PKK since 1984. Initially, the movement was for a separate homeland for Turkey's ethnic Kurdish minority. But now, the rebels say they are instead fighting for more linguistic and cultural freedoms.

More than 40,000 people, mostly ethnic Kurds, have been killed in the conflict.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.