Three Chinese engineers kidnapped by suspected Kurdish militants in Turkey

Suspected Kurdish militants have kidnapped three Chinese engineers in southeast Turkey near the border with Iraq and Syria, security sources said on Monday.

The workers were seized from a shop in the border town of Silopi late on Sunday by suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who then went on to attack a power plant construction site where they worked, the sources said.

A spokesman from the Chinese embassy in Turkey said that three Chinese workers have “disappeared” after a thermal power plant in Silopi, which is being constructed by China Machinery Engineering Corporation, was attacked by militants at around 9pm local time on Sunday, Xinhua said.

There have been protests in recent months against the planned second power station in Silopi, according to the local Firat news agency, which is close to the PKK.

The Turkish military has launched an operation to try to locate and rescue the engineers, the security sources said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.