BAGHDAD, Nov. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Police in Iraq's southern city of Nasiriyah, some 350 km south of Baghdad, retrieved 70 stolen antiques and gave them back to the city's museum, local newspaper Al Sabah reported on Monday.

    Nasiriyah's antiquity protection police force, which was established to prevent the smuggling of the ruins and antiques, managed to seize 70 stolen antiques of the ancient times in the regions of Oma and Jokha with the help of the Italian police, said the report.

    The Nasiriyah antiquity inspection committee received these antiques from the police and restored them to the museum, added the report.

    Museums throughout Iraq, especially the Iraqi National Museum located in Baghdad, witnessed a wave of rampant robberies and lootings shortly after the US-led coalition forces launched the waron Iraq in March 2003, and thousands of antiques have been stolen and smuggled out of the country.

    Although great efforts are being made to retrieve these valuable antiques, a large number of them are still missing. Enditem