A body has been found in Matrouh during an organised military search for army soldier Essam Mokhtar, who has been missing since 29 May. The body was found between Matrouh and the northwest border city of Saloum. According to an army spokesperson, the identity of the dead person could not be initially determined due to the stage of decay in which the body was found. The corpse was sent to a lab in Alexandria on Tuesday morning for DNA tests and further investigation, the army spokesperson has said. Mokhtar went missing last Wednesday while returning home from Egypt's Western Military Zone. The soldier's brother reported him missing after Mokhtar failed to turn up from work for two days, state-run Al-Ahram reported. Authorities searching for the army soldier have confirmed that Mokhtar was not kidnapped and are waiting to hear from lab tests regarding the corpse.
