Three journalists working for Turkish state-run news agency Anatolia were abducted Sunday by members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey.

Three journalists working for Turkish state-run news agency Anatolia were abducted Sunday by members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey, the agency said.

Anatolia said that the incident occurred in Nusaybin in Mardin province, where the security forces have been conducting a vast operation aimed at flushing PKK forces out of the area.

The agency is Turkey's largest and has a large network of journalists in Turkey and abroad.

The border town of Nusaybin has been a hotspot in the fighting that flared up again between Turkish forces and the PKK after a fragile two-and-a-half year truce fell apart in July.

In recent days Turkey has taken its fight against Kurdish fighters across the border into Syria, where it has been bombarding a Kurdish-led coalition that has been making territorial gains within striking distance of Turkey.

Turkey, which fears the creation of a Kurdish stronghold along its border with Syria, insists it is acting in "legitimate defense".