The Interior Ministry announced on Monday that the two police officers accused of involvement in desecration of the corpse of a PKK militant were suspended from duty.

An image of a body, later found out to be a 24-year-old militant from the terrorist organization PKK, dragged behind an armored police vehicle had sparked outrage after it spread on social media earlier this month.

The ministry said in a statement that inspectors investigating the incident suspended two unidentified officers accused of involvement in "dragging the corpse of a terrorist."

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu confirmed the suspension in a televised interview to Turkish broadcaster NTV yesterday, underlining that he instructed for a swift inquiry into the incident after the first image started making rounds on social media websites. "Two officers hurting the legitimacy of our anti-terror operations were fired and investigations will continue," said Davutoğlu, noting that initial findings showed it was a deliberate act. The prime minister said overshadowing operations carried out within the scope of the law for the interest of public and creating a perception that security forces act out of vengeance and anger did harm to operations.

"There are regulations on how to treat the corpse of a terrorist killed in an operation. Security forces hand over the body to families after the autopsy," Davutoğlu said. He vowed members of security forces acting against regulations would be punished, noting those practices had no place in a state of law.

The image and a video of the incident which took place in the southeastern province of Şırnak had surfaced at a time of escalating attacks by the terrorist organization which killed 145 police officers and troops and more than a hundred civilians since it put an end to a "truce" it declared three years ago in July. Hundreds of PKK militants were killed in operations by Turkish Armed Forces and police both in southeastern and eastern Turkey where PKK attacks concentrated and in airstrikes targeting mountainous territory in the northern Iraq where the PKK has hideouts.