Two Turkish soldiers were killed and another was wounded in clashes with smugglers near the town of Ceylanpinar in southern Sanliurfa province near border with Syria, Dogan News Agency reported on Tuesday.
A group of suspected smugglers ignored warnings to stop by a military patrol team and fired on the soldiers on late Monday, the governor for Sanliurfa province Izzettin Kucuk said in a statement.
"Soldiers delivered a warning message, but smugglers fired their guns in response. One soldier was martyred and two soldiers were wounded," he said on late Monday.
One of the two wounded soldiers died at the hospital on Tuesday morning. Smuggling activities along the porous Turkish-Syrian border becomes an increasingly widespread as a consequence of civil war in Syria.
Some of the smuggling incidents turn violent and clashes erupt in the southern Turkish border as a large amount of fuel is being smuggled from Syria.
The Turkish army has employed advanced technological devices, including thermal cameras and constructed concrete walls and ditches along the border to prevent crossings.