Kurdish rebels free kidnapped lawmaker

An ethnic Kurd lawmaker kidnapped by Kurdish rebels has been freed on Tuesday, local security sources told AFP, confirming an earlier report by private NTV television network. Huseyin Aygun, of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in the southeastern city of Tunceli, was abducted Sunday after rebels stopped his car on the highway. The lawmaker was released near Ovacik town in the Tunceli province, governor Mustafa Taskesen told NTV. "He is in good health and expected to be in Tunceli after judicial procedures are concluded," the governor said. Aygun had refused to testify at a nearby police station and said he wanted to go to Tunceli, local security sources told AFP. Turkish security forces launched on Monday an operation to locate the abducted lawmaker. The operation came amid intensified clashes between Kurdish rebels and Turkish troops in the region. Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels had confirmed in a statement they were holding the lawmaker and warned Turkey to abandon its rescue operation. It marked the first time since PKK rebels began their battle for autonomy in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984 that they have abducted a member of the Turkish parliament. Kurdish rebels frequently kidnap workers, soldiers and local authorities to bargain for the release of captured rebels, and free most hostages without harm. Aygun, 42, has in the past called on the PKK to abandon their violent campaign. The conflict with the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community, has claimed some 45,000 lives over nearly three decades.