AMMAN, June 18: Jordan said on Wednesday it will return to Iraq around 2,466 artefacts, including gold coins and jewellery, which were stolen after the US-led invasion of its neighbour.

“The artefacts will be handed over on Sunday to the Iraqi state minister of tourism Mohammed Abbas Oreibi, who is currently in Amman,” Jordanian tourism minister Maha Khatib said.

Khatib told the state-run Petra news agency that the “objects, which include Islamic and ancient manuscripts, have been seized by Jordanian customs officials.” Around 32,000 artefacts were looted from 12,000 archaeological sites around Iraq during the chaos that followed the 2003 invasion along with 15,000 items stolen from the Baghdad National Museum.

According to Iraqi officials, only 4,000 artefacts have been recovered despite the introduction of a reward system offering up to 3,000 dollars to those handing in stolen items.

Iraq is described as the cradle of civilisation with some of the first evidence of complex urban life appearing within its borders around 3000 BC.

—AFP