Iraq Says US to Return 17,000 Artifacts Looted after Invasion

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein speaks with Iraqi Culture Minister Hassan Nadhim during a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, Iraq August 3, 2021. REUTERS/Saba Kareem
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein speaks with Iraqi Culture Minister Hassan Nadhim during a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, Iraq August 3, 2021. REUTERS/Saba Kareem
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Iraq Says US to Return 17,000 Artifacts Looted after Invasion

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein speaks with Iraqi Culture Minister Hassan Nadhim during a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, Iraq August 3, 2021. REUTERS/Saba Kareem
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein speaks with Iraqi Culture Minister Hassan Nadhim during a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, Iraq August 3, 2021. REUTERS/Saba Kareem

The United States is returning more than 17,000 ancient artifacts looted and smuggled out of Iraq after the US invasion in 2003, including a 3,500-year-old clay tablet bearing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Iraq said on Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of antiquities disappeared from Iraq after the 2003 invasion that toppled leader Saddam Hussein. Many more were smuggled or destroyed by ISIS, which held a third of Iraq between 2014 and 2017 before it was defeated by Iraqi and international forces.

US authorities working to recover the artifacts recently reached an agreement with Baghdad to return items seized from dealers and museums in the United States, the Iraqi culture and foreign ministries said.

"The US government seized some of the artifacts and sent them to the (Iraqi) embassy. The Gilgamesh tablet, the important one, will be returned to Iraq in the next month after legal procedures are finalized," Culture Minister Hassan Nadhim told Reuters.

US authorities seized the Gilgamesh tablet in 2019 after it was smuggled, auctioned and sold to an arts dealer in Oklahoma and displayed at a museum in Washington, D.C., the Department of Justice said. A court ordered its forfeiture last month, it said.

It said that a US antiquities dealer had bought the tablet from a London-based dealer in 2003. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a 3,500-year-old Sumerian tale considered one of the world's first pieces of literature.

Nadhim said other artifacts being returned included other tablets inscribed in cuneiform script.



Runaway Pet Zebra Captured in Tennessee

In this image taken from June 8, 2025, video by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office in Rutherford County, Tennessee, shows the airlifting of a zebra named Ed that had evaded capture for several days after it ran away from its owner. (Rutherford County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image taken from June 8, 2025, video by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office in Rutherford County, Tennessee, shows the airlifting of a zebra named Ed that had evaded capture for several days after it ran away from its owner. (Rutherford County Sheriff's Office via AP)
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Runaway Pet Zebra Captured in Tennessee

In this image taken from June 8, 2025, video by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office in Rutherford County, Tennessee, shows the airlifting of a zebra named Ed that had evaded capture for several days after it ran away from its owner. (Rutherford County Sheriff's Office via AP)
In this image taken from June 8, 2025, video by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office in Rutherford County, Tennessee, shows the airlifting of a zebra named Ed that had evaded capture for several days after it ran away from its owner. (Rutherford County Sheriff's Office via AP)

A runaway pet zebra that was on the loose for more than a week in Tennessee and became an internet sensation in the process was captured Sunday, authorities said.

Ed the Zebra was captured safely after being located in a pasture near a subdivision in the Christiana community in central Tennessee, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office confirmed. The sheriff’s office said aviation crews captured the zebra, The Associated Press reported.

“Ed was airlifted and flown by helicopter back to a waiting animal trailer,” the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Video posted by the sheriff's office shows Ed wrapped in a net with his head sticking out as he is carried by the helicopter to the trailer.

Ed arrived in Christiana on May 30, the sheriff's office said. His owner reported him missing the next day.

The zebra was spotted and filmed running along Interstate 24, forcing deputies to shut the roadway. But Ed escaped into a wooded area.

There were several sightings posted to social media. Ed was filmed trotting through a neighborhood.

The zebra quickly became the subject of internet memes. One fake posting showed Ed dining at a Waffle House, a southern staple. Others had him visiting other Tennessee cities or panhandling on the side of the road.