DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AFP) - One person was killed on Friday in south-east Turkey as security forces fired shots in the air to disperse hundreds of people protesting against the expansion of an army outpost, security sources said.

At least eight people were also wounded, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Some 300 protesters had gathered in the south-eastern town of Lice to prevent an additional army building from being built there.

Pro-Kurdish Firat News agency confirmed the protester's death and said the army opened fire after the crowd set several construction tents on fire and marched on to the construction site, hurling stones and molotov cocktails at the security forces.

The clash comes while Ankara is trying to contain anti-government protests that began on May 31 in Istanbul but quickly spread across the country after a heavy handed police crackdown against the peaceful demonstrators.

The series of demonstrations have so far left four people dead and nearly 8,000 injured, posing one of the biggest challenges to the decade-old government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.