French find car of missing Israel defence official

PARIS, Jan 25 (Reuters) French officials have found the car of the head of the Israeli Defence Ministry Mission to Europe, who disappeared from his Paris house and is thought to have been considering suicide, a police source said today.

David Dahan's car was found by the river Seine in the northern city of Rouen on Wednesday with no signs of violence to the vehicle, the source said. Divers were due to search a nearby stretch of the river.

On Tuesday, a police source said Dahan, who had not been seen since the weekend, had left notes that indicated he might have been considering suicide.

One police source said Dahan had asked for ''forgiveness'' in one letter, adding that he had suffered depression in the past.

Dahan lived in Paris but his wife and child lived in Israel.

Israel's Foreign Ministry declined comment on the case on Tuesday. The Defence Ministry said it would release any new information after Dahan's family had received it.

The official task of the Israeli Defence Ministry Mission is the purchase of military equipment around Europe. The mission used to be based in central Paris, but was hit by a car bomb in 1982 and is now based in a Paris suburb.

REUTERS SP PM1535