Iraq said on Thursday it has created a special task force to investigate the theft of valuable ancient Judaic manuscripts that later turned up in Israel.

The rare books, confiscated during the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, were rescued from US bombing at the start of the 2003 war and then sent to the United States for restoration but later wound up in Israel instead.

At a press briefing at the National Museum in Baghdad, Iraqi Minister of Tourism and Archaeology Mohammad Abbas al-Oraibi said that a working group"will investigate in the US to find out if this is true or not."