12 April 2003

By the time Asif Mohammed turned up for work yesterday morning, the ancient contents of Mosul's museum had vanished. The looters knew what they were looking for, and in less than 10 minutes had walked off with several million dollars worth of Iranian artefacts belong to the Parthian dynasty.

The 2,000-year-old statue of King Saqnatroq II - one of the forgotten Parthian monarchs - had disappeared from its cabinet. Lying on the glass-strewn floor were the remains of several mythical birds and an Athenian goddess, apparently broken by the looters as they made their escape.