Two Turkish police fired over desecration of Kurdish rebel's corpse

Two Turkish police officers accused of desecrating the corpse of a Kurdish rebel killed during fighting in southeastern Turkey have been sacked, the interior ministry said Monday.

An investigation "has proven the involvement" of the two men in the incident early this month, when the body of Haci Lokman Birlik was dragged behind an armoured vehicle through the streets of Sirnak, the ministry said in a statement.

The 24-year-old was killed early this month during clashes between Turkish security forces and the youth wing of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Images on social media of his body being dragged by the neck through the streets of the southeastern city outraged rights activists.

In an interview Monday on Turkey's NTV news channel, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"Such practices have no place in a state of law, even if it has to do with a terrorist," he said.

The Turkish government has been waging a relentless offensive aimed at crippling the PKK, which has staged a string of attacks in Turkey since a two-year-old ceasefire fell apart in late July.

The PKK on Saturday announced a unilateral truce until snap parliamentary elections set for November 1, but clashes have continued since in the Kurdish-majority southeast.

More than 140 soldiers and police have been killed in PKK bombings and shootings since the return to open conflict, compared with around 1,700 militants, almost all from the PKK, state-run Anatolia news agency said last week.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) says dozens of civilians have been killed in police and military operations -- charges denied by the government.

Birlik was the brother-in-law of an HDP lawmaker.