A team of archaeologists who reportedly discovered the damage claimed the tombs probably included kings' mausoleums, which have never been found before.

But their claim was rejected by experts on Loulan studies in interviews with China Daily.

An excavation team organized by the local cultural heritage administration has set out today for the tombs in the vast Lop Nur desert in Xinjiang, said sources with the Xinjiang Archaeological Research Institute.

The tombs were found with mummies torn, bones scattered, murals destroyed and silk fabrics broken to pieces during the Spring Festival period (February 1 to 7 this year).

"We met with a white car which fled on sight. Following the tracks we saw the robbed tombs," said Zong Tongcang, member of the team and researcher with the Palace Museum in Beijing.

One mural smashed depicted a golden camel and a silver camel biting each other, and a man standing between them, making gestures to stop the fight. Zong said camels were symbols of power in Loulan.

"If what the team said was true, it would be the first time that such fabulous murals and coloured coffins were discovered in tombs of the Loulan Kingdom," said Zhang Yuzhong, deputy head of the Xinjiang Archaeological Research Institute.

Loulan Kingdom (176 BC - AD 630) was the hub of communications on the Silk Road which connected the East with the West. It mysteriously waned and was forgotten until the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin (1865-1952) discovered its relics in 1900.

"The tombs were built under a Buddhist pagoda, which was deemed holy in Loulan. The extraordinary burial site, tomb size, murals and paintings on coffins all hinted the tombs may belong to the kings," Zong was quoted as saying.

However, Lin Meicun, a professor with Peking University and a prestigious scholar on Loulan, told China Daily that it was unlikely kings' mausoleums were among the Lop Nur tombs.

"Lop Nur was, in the third century, the border between the kingdom and regions under the direct jurisdiction of the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). Kings' mausoleums should be built in Ruoqiang, the Loulan capital then, which is far from the Lop Nur," Lin noted.

It is the second major raid on the Loulan tombs since 2002.

"It is difficult to guard the relics in the vast Xinjiang, which makes up one-sixth of China's land territory. What is more, no one can live in the Lop Nur desert and guard the Loulan relics," said Zhang Yuzhong.

Zhang said investigations into the robbery are continuing.

"Protection of the Loulan relics is urgent," he noted.

(China Daily February 13, 2003)