"In April of 2003, the Iraq Museum in Baghdad was looted of over fifteen thousand priceless artifacts. In only two days, from the 10th to the 12th of April, historical artifacts from ancient Sumerian cities like Uruk, Ur, and Eridu, as well as pieces from Babylon, the Akkadian Empire, and Nineveh, were lost or destroyed. The looters were native to the region, not an invading force, and this made the meaningless destruction of irreplaceable artifacts, not to mention the theft of national treasures, all the more disturbing to the citizens of Iraq and the international community."

[worldhistory.org]