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US troops seize `stolen` artefacts from Baghdad museum
Baghdad, July 11: US troops in Iraq have seized a number of artefacts believed to have been stolen from Baghdad`s main museum, heavily looted in the chaos that followed the collapse of Saddam Hussein`s regime, the military said.
Baghdad, July 11: US troops in Iraq have seized a number of artefacts believed to have been stolen from Baghdad's main museum, heavily looted in the chaos that followed the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, the military said.
"The artefacts consisted of miniature statues, a skull and a clay bowl. A local archeologist determined one of the artefacts to be pre-Samarian, dated 3000 to 3200 BC," Central Command said in a statement yesterday.
The archaeologist said all of the pieces had previously been part of collections at the Baghdad museum.
The 12 artefacts were seized in a raid on the home of a suspected smuggler this week, the statement added, alongwith assault rifles, grenades, and a large haul of cash in Iraqi dinars. Coalition forces detained two prospective buyers who were being held along with the suspected smuggler pending investigation, Centcom said.
The Iraqi national museum was heavily looted after the collapse of Saddam's regime in early April, with fears that thousands of priceless antiquities from the Assyrian and Babylonian periods had been lost.
But coalition officials said last month that the extent of looting had not been as widespread as previously feared. Just 3,000 of some 170,000 items originally reported missing still remained unaccounted for. Of 8,000 items of world-class value, only 47 were missing, a coalition spokesman said.
Bureau Report
The archaeologist said all of the pieces had previously been part of collections at the Baghdad museum.
The 12 artefacts were seized in a raid on the home of a suspected smuggler this week, the statement added, alongwith assault rifles, grenades, and a large haul of cash in Iraqi dinars. Coalition forces detained two prospective buyers who were being held along with the suspected smuggler pending investigation, Centcom said.
The Iraqi national museum was heavily looted after the collapse of Saddam's regime in early April, with fears that thousands of priceless antiquities from the Assyrian and Babylonian periods had been lost.
But coalition officials said last month that the extent of looting had not been as widespread as previously feared. Just 3,000 of some 170,000 items originally reported missing still remained unaccounted for. Of 8,000 items of world-class value, only 47 were missing, a coalition spokesman said.
Bureau Report