From correspondents in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 01:35 PM IST

A Sri Lankan security officer attached to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went missing, causing embarrassing moments to both the hosts and the Indians, a newspaper said Sunday.

When Manmohan Singh ended his bilateral talks with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, it was seen that a senior superintendent of police attached to the Special Task Force (STF) and assigned to the Indian leader had gone missing, The Sunday Times reported.

Immediately, a member of the Indian Special Protection Group (SPG) jumped into Manmohan Singh's car to take the place of the STF officer, the weekly paper said.

The incident occurred Friday, shortly after the arrival of the Indian prime minister for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit that ended here Sunday.

A similar security lapse also left India's National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan without his official car following the conclusion of the opening of the 15th SAARC summit here Saturday, the Times said.

Narayanan then hopped into a taxi with a Taj Samudra logo and asked the driver to take him to the hotel where the Indian delegation was staying, it said. In the process, he travelled without security from the venue to the hotel.

The Times said that Deputy Inspector General S.M. Wickremasinghe later apologised to Narayanan for the lapse.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)