Italian journalist disappears in Afghanistan

An Italian newspaper has lost contact with its journalist in Afghanistan, the Foreign Ministry and the paper said Tuesday.

Rome daily La Repubblica has had no contact with Daniele Mastrogiacomo since Sunday, the ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry and the Italian Embassy in Kabul were trying to locate the reporter, the AP reports.

"We have not heard from him since Sunday, he was in Kandahar on assignment," said the paper's editor-in-chief, Ezio Mauro, according to La Repubblica's Web site. Kandahar is the Taliban's former stronghold in the country's volatile south.