Iraq worried that ancient Torah manuscripts were smuggled to IsraelI don't know what "Babylonian-era" means in this context. The manuscripts are very unlikely to be older than fairly late in the Middle Ages. There were stories in 2007 and 2008 about a several-hundred-year-old Torah Scroll being removed from Iraq under questionable circumstances (see here) and perhaps this is related.
By THE MEDIA LINE NEWS AGENCY (Jerusalem Post)
The Iraqi Interior Ministry accused security companies working with the American military forces of attempting to smuggle out unique archeological artifacts, stating its concern that Babylonian-era Torah manuscripts were smuggled to Israel, the London-based daily Al-Hayyat reported.
Iraq is searching for over 9,400 artifacts that were lost or stolen since the start of the American-led invasion in May 2003.
Among these items are Babylonian-era Torah manuscripts taken by American forces. The US promised it would return the manuscripts in two years after their renovation, but there was "information pointing to the possibility that they had been smuggled to Israel," Gen. (ret.) Widah Nas'rat of the Interior Ministry's Criminal Investigations Department told Al-Hayyat.
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Incidentally, this week is full of exam marking, meetings, and interviews, so blogging is likely to be relegated to evenings - if my strength holds out. I will try to pace such posts as I find time to write by pre-posting some of them.
UPDATE (20 January): It occurs to me that the 400-year-old Torah Scroll mentioned above was smuggled to Baltimore, so it probably is not related.
There's also an article on the possible Torah manuscripts taken to Israel in Arutz Sheva, but it has no new information.