US Diplomat Disappears in Cyprus

US embassy staff in Cyprus are searching for a senior American diplomat who, it emerged last night, has been missing since last Thursday. The embassy issued a missing person's alert for Thomas Mooney, 45, who was last seen leaving the building in Nicosia on Thursday afternoon. "He just disappeared," an embassy official told the news agency Reuters.

Mr Mooney carries the title of defence attache. The embassy has declined to specify the nature of his work, referring to him as an employee, though defence attaches are frequently involved in intelligence work or weapons procurement.

Nicosia has traditionally been an important station for work involving the Iraq war and the wider Middle East.

Mr Mooney, ranked a lieutenant-colonel, is understood to have been on his second term of duty in Cyprus and was on the island without his family. Reports suggested that his car was also missing and his mobile phone was turned off.

With the embassy refusing to give any details of what happened to the diplomat, the reason for his disappearance for more than three days remains a mystery. "We are looking into all possibilities, and searching everywhere for him," a police source told Reuters, but declined to be more specific.

According to the Cypriot foreign ministry's website, Mr Mooney had been posted to the island a year ago.