ANKARA, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Rebels of the banned Kurdish Workers ' Party (PKK) kidnapped three people in southeastern Turkey on Friday, the local newspaper Today's Zaman reported.
A group of PKK militants kidnapped three villagers from the Meydan Plateau in Semdinli town of the southeastern province of Hakkari, according to the report.
The Turkish security forces have launched an operation in the region to rescue the kidnapped individuals, the report added.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and some other countries, took up arms in 1984 to create an ethnic homeland for the Kurds in southeastern Turkey. More than 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the PKK.