Kurdish rebels kidnapped a Turkish soldier yesterday at a makeshift roadblock in the southeast of the country.
The kidnapping came after five Kurdish guerrillas set up a roadblock and stopped some 40 cars at gunpoint on the road between the southeastern towns of Tunceli and Pulumur.
The guerrillas robbed the passengers and shouted rebel slogans before escaping with a hostage. The Anatolia news agency said the rebels took a soldier who was travelling to his hometown for vacation.
Yesterday's attack comes amid escalating violence and was unusually bold for the rebels, who have recently staged hit-and-run or bombing attacks but have been unable to mount sustained attacks.
The last kidnapping was in 1995, when Kurdish guerrillas grabbed eight soldiers and held them for two years before releasing them.
Militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, have battled government forces in a conflict that has killed more than 37,000 people since 1984 in southeastern Turkey.
AP