South Africa is terminating the services of thousands of soldiers whose protests over a pay rise turned violent last week and resulted in clashes with the police.

A court has ruled the protests as illegal and dismissal letters are being sent to the soldiers, the ministry of defense said on Monday.

The soldiers' union was demanding a pay rise of 30 percent.

"There are about 1,500 to 2,000 people that we are interested in. So the letters have started going to them," SAPA news agency quoted a union adviser as saying, Reuters reported.

About 460 soldiers have already received dismissal letters, said the adviser who was not named.

However, South African National Defense Union's legal adviser Michael Thekiso said that the soldiers "have 10 days to motivate to the minister on why they should not be dismissed. It is only final after 10 days."