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Three Chinese engineers were kidnapped by outlawed Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's southeastern province of Sirnak on Saturday evening, private Dogan news agency reported Monday.

According to the preliminary information, the Chinese engineers have been working at the thermal power plant belonging to a private company in Sirnak's district of Silopi at the mountain foot of Cudi.

The source also said that PKK militants, before attacking the thermal plant with long barreled weapons, kidnapped the Chinese engineers who were shopping from a nearby small shop.

The Chinese Embassy in Ankara confirmed that three workers were missing after an attack on the plant.

The Anadolu Agency said the Kurdish rebels used rocket-propelled grenades and rifles in the attack on the plant late Sunday.

To rescue the Chinese engineers, Turkish security forces have launched a wide scale rescue operation. The thermal plant has been constructed by privately owned Silopi Park Electricity.

Kurdish rebels have abducted foreigners in the past to draw attention to their cause, but have not harmed any of them. The attack by the autonomy-seeking PKK is widely believed to be retaliation to the killing in another town last week of a Kurd who was protesting against the Turkish security forces' removal of a statue of a Kurdish rebel fighter.