ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Kurdish militants launched a mortar attack on a Turkish military base in northern Iraq on Thursday, wounding a Turkish soldier who later died in hospital, Turkey's Defence Ministry said.

       The statement said Turkish forces immediately retaliated against those carrying out the attack and three Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants were neutralised, a term commonly used to mean killed.

       The PKK launched an insurgency in southeast Turkey in 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

       Turkey is currently carrying out operations targeting the militants in northern Iraq, where their main bases are located.

       (Reporting by Orhan Coskun; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Michael Perry)