Marine corps opens inquiry into photos that appear to show marines burning bodies after the battle of Falluja in 2004

The US marine corps has opened an initial investigation into photographs from a celebrity gossip website that purport to show marines burning corpses in Iraq in 2004.

While the corps has yet to verify that the photos are genuine, TMZ.com published eight photographs on Wednesday that appear to show marines in the Iraqi city of Falluja pouring gasoline on corpses, mugging for the camera next to human remains, and the remains of burned bodies.

Captain Ty Balzer, a marine corps spokesman, said that the marines received the photos from TMZ late last week, and has begun looking into them to determine if a further, more formal inquiry is warranted.

“We are currently are investigating to determine the veracity of the photos, what the circumstances depicted in them are, and if possible, the identities of the service members involved. The results of that will determine whether we are able to move forward with any investigation into possible wrongdoing,” Balzer said Wednesday.

Desecration of corpses is a potential violation of the laws of war and the US uniform code of military justice. “You don’t desecrate the bodies of guys you’ve been in a shootout with,” said Eugene Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School.

TMZ said on its website that it had a cache of 41 photos that it said it believed were shot in Falluja in 2004. The Iraqi city was the site of two major battles waged by the US army and the marine corps against insurgents during that year. It was recently recaptured by forces aligned with al-Qaida, prompting the Pentagon to expedite a shipment of surveillance drones and missiles slated to arrive by the spring.

An internal Pentagon check did not determine any knowledge of the alleged corpse-burning incident contemporaneously or since. Almost all US military forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011.

In 2005, US army soldiers in eastern Afghanistan were found to have burned the corpses of two Afghan fighters. An inquiry determined that they did so for hygenic reasons, not out of an intent to desecrate the corpses. But a command statement faulted the soldiers for “poor decision-making and judgment, poor reporting and lack of knowledge and respect for local Afghan customs and tradition”.

The marine corps recently dealt with the fallout of a video that circulated in 2012 of marines in Afghanistan urinating on Afghan corpses believed to be of Taliban fighters. A marine staff sergeant pleaded guilty to the desecration in January 2013 and three others received administrative punishments.

Navy commander Bill Speaks, a Pentagon spokesman, said the initial marine corps investigation would determine whether subsequent steps are appropriate. “We are aware of photos appearing on TMZ.com that depict individuals in US marine uniforms burning what appear to be human remains,” Speaks said.

“The actions depicted in these photos are not what we expect from our service members, nor do they represent the honorable and professional service of the more than 2.5 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The provenance of the photos is unclear.