This file photo shows PKK militants training at a base in northern Iraq.<\/p>\n
Members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group have kidnapped three people in eastern Turkey, Turkish media report.\n<\/p>\n
On Friday, the PKK militants kidnapped a contractor and two workers at a construction site of the Bingol-Mus Railway in Genc town of Bingol Province and set fire to some vehicles in the vicinity, the Turkish daily Hurriyet<\/i> reported.\n<\/p>\n
According to the report, the militants transferred the three abductees to a forest in the Bingol Province.\n<\/p>\n
The Turkish government had reached a truce agreement with former PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in March, halting a 28-year armed struggle between the two sides. The truce called on the PKK militants to lay down their arms and retreat to northern Iraq.\n<\/p>\n
In May, the PKK announced that it was withdrawing from Turkey to settle in bases in northern Iraq, as part of the peace deal.\n<\/p>\n
Ocalan, who had been captured by Turkish security forces in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in 1999, is serving a life sentence at Imrali Island prison on charges of leading the PKK in its armed campaign against Ankara.\n<\/p>\n
The PKK appointed new leaders in July. According to local media, Cemil Bayik, a founder and close ally of imprisoned Ocalan and Bese Hozat, who led the PKK women\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s wing, were named as the group\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s new leaders.\n<\/p>\n
The new PKK leadership later threatened to call off the historic truce between the group and the Turkish government if Ankara does not change its approaches toward the militant group.\n<\/p>\n
The PKK’s new commander recently said the situation is changing and the PKK militants will not lay down their arms.\n<\/p>\n
Murat Karayilan, the new leader of the group\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s military wing, criticized the lack of concessions from Ankara, saying the Turkish military was still active in parts of Kurdish-populated southern Turkey.\n<\/p>\n
The group warned Ankara against \u00c5\u201cprovocations and clashes,\u201d which it said could hamper the retreat.\n<\/p>\n
The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since the 1980s.\n<\/p>\n
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