ANKARA/ISTANBUL - Twenty-eight soldiers of the Turkish security forces were wounded when an explosion rocked a natural gas pipeline in eastern Turkey, local media reported Friday.

The explosives, planted by suspected members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) along a natural gas pipeline from Iran in Turkeli village of Eleskirt town in Agri province, were detonated late Thursday by remote control, leaving 28 soldiers in a passing-by military vehicle wounded, according to private Dogan news agency.

The wounded, including one in serious conditions, were rushed to hospitals for medical treatment, said the report.

A fire broke out due to the blast, but was subsequently extinguished after the flow of gas in the pipeline was cut off.

An operation has been launched in the region to apprehend the militants responsible for the blast.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Since then, over 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the group.