BISHKEK, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - The authorities of the U.S. military air base in Kyrgyzstan have notified local police about the female soldier who went missing Tuesday in the capital, Bishkek, a spokesman for the base said Wednesday.
The woman was last seen Tuesday in a city mall after she left a group of fellow servicemen from the Manas Air Base while they were shopping.
"We are currently filing with Kyrgyzstan's Interior Ministry and the National Security Service an official notification on the missing U.S. soldier," the spokesman said.
Earlier, local police said they had no information about a missing American soldier.
"No one has yet notified law enforcement authorities about a missing U.S. citizen," said Sherkozi Mirzakarimov, the Central Asian's republic's first deputy interior minister.
The spokesman also said the authorities of the air base circulated a picture of the missing 33-year-old woman, but refused to give her name in the interests of the investigation.
The U.S. has been leasing an air base at Manas international airport, in the south of the Kyrgyz capital, since December 2001 as part of its anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan. About 1,000 U.S. servicemen and several military transport aircraft are deployed there.
