The Libyan government said Monday that it has lost contact with top aide to Prime Minister Ali Zidan, Mohamed Ali Qattous, since Sunday, who may have been kidnapped, said a cabinet statement obtained by Xinhua on Monday.

"The contact with Mohamed Ali Qattous has been lost since Sunday morning, while he was en route to the cabinet headquarters in Tripoli," the statement read.

According to the statement, the last contact with Qattous was made while he was in a local village, east of the city of Tajoura.

Police have launched a manhunt for Qattous, who has good relations with political powers in Libya, the statement read.

Libya has been engulfed into as state of instability and chaos since the upheaval that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Last week, five British nationals were briefly kidnapped by an armed group in the coastal city of Benghazi.