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

The three - a local correspondent, a cameraman and a photographer - were released uninjured to members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (HDP) in the same area where they were taken, the agency reported.

But their equipment was taken by the militant group which has been fighting against the Turkish state since 1984.

Anadolu said that the incident occurred in Nusaybin, Mardin province, where Turkish security forces have been trying to flush PKK rebels out of the area.

Anadolu is the country's biggest news agency and has a broad network of journalists in Turkey and abroad.

The border town of Nusaybin has been a hotspot in the fighting between Turkish and Kurdish units. 

Trouble again 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.

On Thursday, Turkey  Kurdish militants based inside the country and in Syria for a  that killed 28 people after targeting a military convoy in Ankara.

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