BAGHDAD/ Aswat al-Iraq: US embassy to Baghdad announced here today that it hosted a conference, last week, on countering antiquities smuggling in Iraq.

US embassy spokesman, in a statement, copy received by Aswat al-Iraq, pointed out that this conference was held within the Strategic Framework Agreement to preserve Iraqi heritage, which is "one of the greatest human treasures".

The conference was held on 17-20 December, where training was made to interior ministry's investigators who represent 15 provinces.

More than 15.000 antiquities were plundered in Iraq after 2003 following the entry of the US forces, in addition to tens of millions of documents connected with Iraqi archives.

Uptil now, Iraq received about 8000 antiquity pieces, while the majority of Iraqi archives are still in the United States.