NEW DELHI: India's top court Tuesday dropped long-running proceedings against two Italian marines who shot dead two fishermen off Kerala in 2012, but said that the soldiers should now be tried in their own country.

Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre killed the unarmed fishermen off the southern Indian coast in February 2012 while protecting an Italian oil tanker as part of an anti-piracy mission.

After a legal saga that has dogged relations between Rome and New Delhi for almost a decade, India in April accepted a compensation offer of 100 million rupees ($1.4 million, 1.1 million euros).

Quashing the case, India's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that 40 million rupees each would be given to the families and the remaining 20 million rupees to the owner of the boat used by the fishermen.