It is feared leader is missing in a raid (6)

I believe the answer is:

afraid

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'it is feared' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'leader is missing in a raid' is the wordplay.
'leader is missing in' becomes 'af' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'af'+'raid'='AFRAID'

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(Other definitions for afraid that I've seen before include "Not confident" , "Timorous" , "cowardly" , "makes one panicky" , "Nervous" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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