Historic sites being trampled by foreign troops in Iraq

Malaysia Sun Tuesday 19th February, 2008

An Iraqi minister has criticised U.S-led multinational troops who continue to set up military camps on historic sites in Iraqi cities.

The Minister of Antiquities and Tourism, Mohammed Abbas, has told the al-Mada newspaper that foreign military troops are causing damage to sites in Samarra and Nasiriyah.

He explained the damage was caused when soldiers set up their camps with barriers, bunkers and heavy military vehicles.

He said the ministry has already made appeals to clear the eroded sites of all troops.

Mr Abbas also said some 4,000 out of 15,000 antiquities, which had been stolen from the national museum in Baghdad in the wake of the U.S-led war in 2003, had been given back to the Iraqi government.

Efforts were continuing to retrieve more of the antiquities that had been smuggled by specialised gangs out of Iraq via neighbouring countries.