Leontios Trattos: Cypriot referee has his car set on fire as he's targeted for the second time in just over a year

Trattos is one of Cyrpus' most high-profile referees and was targeted last February when a bomb destroyed a car outside of this flat in Nicosia

A generic picture of a car on fire (Getty Images)

A car used by Cypriot referee Leontios Trattos was set on fire early on Tuesday, police said, the second time he has been targeted in just over a year.

The incident is the latest in a string of threats and attacks against referees and their families which led to calls for the officials to boycott games.

Police said the car, which was parked in the basement of Trattos's residence at an apartment block in a suburb of the capital Nicosia, was destroyed.

Authorities suspect the vehicle, a company car belonging to Trattos's employers, was doused with inflammable fluid and set alight.

One of the Mediterranean island's most high-profile referees, Trattos was also targeted in February last year when a bomb destroyed a car parked outside his home.

That incident, among a string of attacks against referees, led to a brief suspension of fixtures on the island.

The attacks have continued, however, and in January a bomb went off outside the home of a referee's mother, and last month a car belonging to a referee's wife was damaged by a pipe bomb.

There have been no injuries reported from any of the attacks.

Reuters