Ankara, Oct 24 (IANS): At least three rebels from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in the clashes with Turkish gendarmerie teams in Turkey Friday, a media report said.

Four PKK rebels attacked a hydroelectric power plant in Kagizman town of Kars province, Xinhua reported.

Turkish gendarmerie teams were dispatched to the power plant after a tip-off, said the report.

Turkish Gendarmerie teams asked the PKK rebels to surrender who instead tried to escape. The Turkish troops opened fire at the rebels, killing three of them.

Many guns and hand-grenades were seized from the vehicle of the rebels.

The PKK, which has been listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and other countries, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland for the Kurds in southeastern Turkey.

Since then, over 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the group.

The Turkish authorities started peace negotiations with the PKK in Oct 2012, which led to a ceasefire in March, 2013. But PKK fighters started to return to their strongholds in northern Iraq in May last year.