Leaders of the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party in Turkey say they are extremely concerned about the safety of two party officials who went missing a week ago.

Just before their disappearance, Serdar Tanif and Ebubekir Deniz, had opened a new branch office for the People's Democracy Party, or Hadep. in the southeastern town of Silopi.

The BBC correspondent in Istanbul says that many members of the security forces regard the party as the political wing of the Kurdish rebel movement, the PKK.

The two men were last seen when they were summoned to local gendarmerie camp, but the authorities say that the men were not under arrest.

They have disappeared the day after six police officers were shot dead in the nearby city of Diyarbakir.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service