Two Turkish journalists working for foreign news agencies were kidnapped by Kurdish guerrillas in southeastern Turkey, where the military and rebels have been fighting.

Four or five Kurdish rebels picked up Kadri Gursel, a reporter for the French news agency Agence France Press, and Fatih Saribas, a Reuter photographer, Friday night at a road block, their driver said Saturday.

The guerrillas were from the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as PKK, which has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984.

The Kurd-A news agency, which has close ties with the PKK, said Gursel and Saribas were being “hosted (by the PKK) for their own safety … because there were ongoing skirmishes in the area.” The news agency, based in Germany, made the statement to Turkey’s private ATV television.

Cengiz Aslan said he was driving the journalists back from Kurdcontrolled northern Iraq, when they encountered a rebel roadblock.

The rebels told Gursel and Saribas to remove their belongings from the car. The journalists then walked with them toward the mountains, he said.