A fuzzy approach using an EM algorithm for image classification is presented. In this study, a double compound stochastic image process is assumed to combine a discrete-valued field for region-class processes and a continuous random field for observed intensity processes. The Markov random field is employed to characterize the geophysical connectedness of a digital image structure. The fuzzy classification is an EM iterative approach based on mixture probability distribution. Under the assumption of the double compound process, given an initial class map, this approach iteratively computes the fuzzy membership vectors in the E-step and the estimates of class-related parameters in the M-step. In the experiments with remotely sensed data, the MRF-based method yielded a spatially smooth class-map with more distinctive configuration of the classes than the non-MRF approach.