Hyderabad, July 28 - Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar Tuesday paid tributes to the workers of his Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) who were killed in police firing in Andhra Pradesh's Khammam district two years ago.

It was on this day in 2007 that seven CPI-M workers were killed and dozens of other were injured when police opened fire during an agitation by the party to press its demand for distributing government land among the landless poor.

The CPI-M Tuesday held a public meeting in Mudigoda in Khammam district, considered a party stronghold, to pay tributes to the 'martyrs' of the police firing.

The incident had taken place during the state-wide 'bhooporatam' or land agitation launched by the CPI-M and the Communist Party of India (CPI). Police opened fire when CPI-M workers blocked traffic on a highway.

While the CPI-M claimed that the firing was unprovoked, the police defended their action saying the mob had resorted to violence.

CPI-M state secretary B.V. Raghavulu said justice had not been done to the families of the victims even two years after the incident while the inquiry commission set up by the state government had failed to identify the culprits.