"Unfortunately, we have alarming information on a number of sites that could have already been damaged by the bombings and fighting," said Monir Buchenaki, Algerian archaeologist and UNESCO assistant cultural manager, adding he had sent a letter to the American authorities on the issue.

"We have received information indicating that the museum of Tikrit (the northern Iraqi town in which Saddam Hussein was born) has been damaged, as well as the museum of Mosul and a palace in Baghdad containing a collection of objects from the monarchy," Buchenaki explained.

There was also concern about the sites in southern Basra, as well as Najaf and Karbala, two sacred Shiite towns, Buchenaki said.

"Mesopotamia and the Abbasid caliphate are jewels of civilisation. That is why we constantly raise the alarm not just about casualties, but also warn that cultural heritage that must not be destroyed."

Buchenaki had sent a previous letter on behalf of the UN educational, scientific and cultural organisation a month ago to warn the United States of the importance of conserving Iraq's cultural heritage. He accompanied it with a map, as well as a list of museums in Iraq.

The American supervisor at UNESCO who received this warning assured Buchenaki "that all the observations were relayed to the authorities responsible for carrying out operations."

American Central Command official Vincent Brooks accused Iraq Wednesday of deliberately using religious sites for military purposes, such as when US troops were shot at from within the Ali mosque in Najaf.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saif al-Sahhaf in turn accused American and British forces of bombing mosques and deliberately destroying religious site at Najaf and Kerbala.

SPACE.WIRE