India has jurisdiction to try Italian marines for fishermen deaths - court

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Two Italian sailors charged with killing two Indian fishermen on Friday lost their Supreme Court bid to be tried on home soil, a victory for New Delhi in a diplomatic tussle over jurisdiction that has strained ties between the two countries.

The sailors, members of a military security team protecting the cargo ship Enrica Lexie, say they mistook the fishermen for pirates off Kerala in February 2012.

The Supreme Court ruled that a special court should be set up to try the marines, lawyers who attended the hearing told reporters afterwards.

(Reporting by Suchitra Mohanty and Annie Banerji, editing by Ross Colvin)