India says, the guilty involved in the killing of two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast by the guards of a Italian Merchant ship will be punished. Sending a strong message, Defence Minister A K Antony said the killing was against the laws and norms and New Delhi is taking the issue very seriously.

Talking to newsmen in New Delhi he underlined that the issue is not about India alone but all others as well. He was answering queries about the steps being taken by the government to bring the guilty to book in the incident.

Antony also said the Kerala police and the Indian Coast Guard are questioning all the people involved in the case and it will be inappropriate for him to comment further on the incident. The two fishermen, native of Alappuzha, were killed on Wednesday night when armed guards on-board the Italian merchant vessel Enrica Lexie opened fire on their fishing boat.

The vessel was brought to Kochi early today and berthed at Kochi oil terminal, where security has been tightened. The preliminary assessment of the marine authorities is that the armed guards aboard the ship might have fired at the fishing boat mistaking it for a vessel belonging to pirates. The coastal police has registered a murder case against the crew of the vessel based on the evidence of bullet injuries found on the bodies of the dead fishermen during post-mortem.