Nedim Seven was detained at Rome's Fiumicino airport under the terms of an international arrest warrant, the paper said, without saying when the arrest took place. He was said to be travelling with a fake diplomatic passport.

A court is set to decide whether to extradite him, it added.

Seven had earlier been arrested in France with 14 other Kurds in February last year for suspected terrorist activities. He had earlier been arrested at the end of 2006 in the Netherlands during a routine security check.

Ankara accuses Seven of being responsible for the death of 15 people.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984, when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish east and southeast.