THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An Indian court granted bail on Wednesday to two Italian marines charged with murdering two fishermen in a case that has caused a diplomatic row, reports said.

Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who shot dead the Indian fishermen off India's southwestern coast on February 15, were granted conditional bail by Kochi High Court in the southern state of Kerala.

The two marines, who had been in jail for over three months, deny murder, saying they mistook the fishermen for pirates. They were employed as guards against pirates on an Italian oil tanker and said the fishermen's boat behaved suspiciously and ignored warning shots while approaching the Italian vessel.

The Italians will have to deposit personal bonds of 10 million rupees (140,000 euros, $178,000) each and comply with other conditions, including surrendering their passports, the judge said, according to the Press Trust of India.

Kerala's Home Minister T. Radhakrishnan said the government had strongly opposed the bail plea as it feared the Italian marines would not show up for the trial.

“We wanted their presence to definitely be guaranteed... It is a brutal murder by Italian marines,” he said.

Italy has called the detention of the marines illegal and challenged it before India's Supreme Court. It has also paid compensation of 144,000 euros ($190,000) to the fishermen's families.

Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi indicated the bail decision would do little to end the diplomatic row.

“There's no reason to sing a victory song because the Indians continue to violate Italian jurisdiction,” he said in remarks to the Italian Senate.

“Together with Defence Minister Giampaolo di Paola we will examine the concrete meaning of the decision and more specifically the conditions that will be imposed.”

Junior foreign minister Staffan De Mistura, who spent weeks in India trying to resolve the dispute, said he could not comment on the bail decision until receiving the official documents, adding: “We've had too many surprises, too many disappointments, especially the families. So we'll wait for the details.”

The Kerala government has ruled out any out-of-court settlement in the murder case. Rome says the marines should be prosecuted in their home country because the shootings occurred on an Italian-flagged vessel in international waters, but India says they took place in waters under its jurisdiction.

Armed guards are increasingly deployed on cargo ships and tankers in the Indian Ocean to tackle threats from Somali pirates, who often hold ships and crews hostage for months demanding multi-million-dollar ransoms.

After the marines were charged with murder earlier in May, Italy recalled its ambassador to Rome for consultations on the matter.