Ankara (AP): The governor of a province in eastern Turkey says Kurdish rebels have kidnapped three German climbers on Mount Ararat.

Gov. Mehmet Cetin said on Wednesday that the climbers were part of a 13-member German team and were abducted late Tuesday.

The rebels have been fighting for autonomy in the region since 1984. They abducted and released several foreign tourists and climbers in the country's southeast in early 1990s.

Mount Ararat is traditionally the site where Noah's biblical Ark landed after the great flood. ap2