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Friday, 2nd May 2008 (2618 views)

Gold antiquities including jewellery and coins that were looted from Iraq in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of the country have been given a "first-class" return to Baghdad after being recovered by Syrian authorities, it has been reported.

News service Azzaman said 700 treasures, some of which date back approximately 5,000 years to the pre-Sumerian Early Dynastic period, were flown back from the Syria's Damascus in an airliner's specially-reserved first class cabin.

They had all been stolen from the National Museum in Baghdad following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Bracelets, coins, statues and various pieces of jewellery were included in the collection, Abedzahra al-Talaqani, an official at Iraq's ministry of tourism and antiquities told the site.

He added that the "highly significant and priceless" artefacts were "symbols and landmarks of Iraq as a state and history".

In the past six months, Talaqani said, more than 3,400 stolen or looted antiquities have been returned to Iraq.

According to news service Agence France-Presse, around 32,000 antiquities were looted from Iraq in 2003, including 15,000 artefacts from the National Museum.

 

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