The British government will return nearly 5,000 artifacts to Iraq, the office of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said Friday. 

Kadhimi, who was appointed premier in May, arrived in the United Kingdom earlier this week for an official state visit. During a tour of the British Museum in London, the Iraqi leader was briefed on the UK's pledge to return clay tablets and other artifacts to Iraq. They are expected to be delivered next year, in what Kadhimi's office said is Iraq’s largest-yet repatriation of artifacts. 

The artifacts were excavated by a team of British archaeologists in the early 20th century, with a permit from the Iraqi government at that time.

Included in the repatriation is a 4,000-year-old Sumerian plaque that museum experts discovered for sale by an online auctioneer in May 2019. The limestone sculpture is believed to have been taken from a temple in Iraq that was heavily looted during the Gulf War and again in 2003. The plaque is currently at the museum for safekeeping and Iraq's State Board of Antiquities granted permission for it to be displayed for a short time prior to the objects' return to Iraq.