Turkey arrested 17 members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) on Thursday, who had escaped from a prison one day before, private Dogan news agency reported.

According to the report, 18 PKK inmates broke out of a prison in the eastern province of Bingol on Wednesday morning, but 17 of them were arrested in rural area near Ortacanak village of Bingol province.

The group, which had been convicted of being PKK members and aiding and abetting lawbreakers, escaped from the M-type prison through a tunnel they dug, said the report.

The Turkish security authorities launched an investigation right after the incident.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and part of the international community, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Since then, over 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the group.