The Marine Corps is working to determine the authenticity of photos published by TMZ.com that purport to show Marines burning the bodies of what appear to be Iraqi insurgents . The celebrity and gossip website said it has 41 photographs believed shot in Falluja in 2004 . It published eight on Wednesday , saying the rest of the images were too graphic . `` 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 Defense Department said . `` The Marine Corps is currently investigating the veracity of these photos , circumstances involved , and if possible , the identities of the service members involved . The findings from this investigation will determine whether we are able to move forward with any investigation into possible wrongdoing . '' Among the published photographs , a person in a Marine uniform appears to be pouring gasoline or some other flammable liquid on the bodies of insurgents . The remains are shown ablaze , and then charred . Islamic custom strictly forbids cremation . In another photograph , a Marine poses for the camera next to a human skull . `` There are well over a dozen bodies in the pics and some are covered with flies and one is being eaten by a dog , '' TMZ.com reported . It said it turned the photographs over to the Pentagon last week and that U.S. Central Command had reviewed them to see whether they had previously been brought to its attention . They had not . During the Iraq war , Falluja was the site of some of the bloodiest fighting between U.S. forces and insurgents . The battles were among the worst Marines had seen since Vietnam , said former Marine Capt . Jonathan Rue . `` This looks really bad , but we do n't know exactly what was happening , and we do n't know what the circumstances were . Nor do we know exactly who was in those photos , '' he said . If the images prove authentic , it would n't be the first time Marines have come under fire for the treatment of enemy bodies . In July 2011 , Marines urinated on dead Taliban fighters and posed for photographs with the corpses in Helmand Province , Afghanistan . The incident did not come to light publicly until January of the following year , when a 39-second video showing the desecration was posted on the Internet . The video inflamed tensions over the U.S. presence in Afghanistan . `` People in battlefield situations do very strange and reprehensible things , and maybe that 's simply part of life , and that 's why you need to have a military justice system that can punish people and hopefully discourage this kind of conduct in the future , '' said Eugene Fidell , with Yale Law School , in response to the recently-published photographs . `` That is n't going to be an answer however to people in Iraq , who are likely to be very infuriated by this . '' Moderates hard to find as 'bad old days ' return in Baghdad . Source : Missing U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl seen in video .
Islamic custom strictly forbids cremation . TMZ.com publishes images that purport to show Marines burning human remains . The gossip website says the photographs were shot in Falluja in 2004 . Comment: