BAGHDAD, April 11: Mobs on Friday looted Baghdad’s cultural and historic treasures, including Iraq’s largest archeological museum, and the capital’s two most prestigious hotels were in flames amid a breakdown in law and order since the Iraqi capital fell to US troops two days ago.

A dozen looters helped themselves undisturbed in ground floor rooms at the National Museum of Iraq, where pottery artefacts and statues were seen broken or overturned and administrative offices were wrecked.

Two men were seen hauling an ancient portal out of the building, and empty wooden crates were scattered over the floor. Other items yanked from the walls were lying on the ground.

Upstairs rooms seemed to have been spared for the time being, however.

The museum housed a major collection of antiquities, including a 4,000-year-old silver harp from Ur.

Iraq, among the earliest cradles of civilization and home to the remains of such ancient Mesopotamian cities as Babylon, Ur and Nineveh, has one of the richest archaeological heritages in the world.

International cultural organizations had urged that the heritage of Iraq, which boasts more than 10,000 archeological sites, be spared ahead of the US-led war launched March 20.

While certain rooms of the museum were nearly emptied, there were also no items behind display cases, indicating that certain pieces had been stashed away before the war. Sandbags were positioned on the ground to protect the artifacts in case of a fall.

Large items difficult to carry remained in place, including three tombstones bearing Kufi calligraphy.

While some witnesses said the looters ran off with the museum artifacts, others said US forces had helped take items away before they entered the heart of the city on Wednesday.

“The looters didn’t reach the main rooms, which are upstairs,” said witness Hussam Zuheiri.

HOTELS IN FLAMES: Baghdad’s two most prestigious hotels, the Rashid and the Mansur, were both in flames on Friday.