We can’t predict attacks: Reddy

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy has claimed to have discerned the involvement of terror outfits based in Pakistan and Bangladesh in the twin blasts that rocked Hyderabad on Saturday.

The death toll from the attack mounted to 44 on Sunday. Even as security was escalated to an unprecedented level in Hyderabad, which is struggling to regain normalcy, Reddy expressed inability of the state to check cross-border terrorism.

Reddy said the focus has shifted to putting in place mechanisms to prevent such terrorist attacks in the future and strengthening the state security machinery.

“We are not in a position to predict such incidents,” he said on Sunday amid the demand for his removal by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu and other political parties.

They have alleged that the administration did not act on intelligence provided by the Centre. The chief minister announced a compensation of Rs5 lakh to the next of kin of those killed, and assistance of Rs20,000 to the injured. 

Union home minister Shivraj Patil, who has supported Reddy's claim,  said that it was "not an easy job" to prevent terrorist attacks. "The country is very big and even if we have the information that something is likely to happen, sometimes we don't know when and where this is likely to happen.

In response state home minister K Jana Reddy said the government could consider legislation on the lines of the 2001 AP Control of Organised Crime Act (APMOCA), enacted by the previous N Chandrababu Naidu government but had lapsed. It is modeled on Mahrashtra's MOCA. This apart a proposal for setting up an expert committee to study the security mechanism and suggest measures to improve would be taken up, he added.

Four more people injured in the bomb explosions  on Saturday at Lumbini Park, a tourist attraction located metres from the state secretariat, and the popular Gokul Chat Bhandar in downtown Kothi area, taking the toll to 44. The number was expected to go up with many more of the 54 injured in a critical state the Care Hospital.

Seven students from 'Amritwahini' college at Sangamner in Ahmednagar district were among the dead at Lumbini Park. They were of a group of 45 who were on an industrial tour of the city.

Meanwhile the Andhra Pradesh police have made a breakthrough in the investigations into the blasts based on the evidence gathered from the two bombs that were defused on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, a Reuters report said the state police had discovered a total of 19 unexploded bombs from various places across the city and defused them on Saturday and Sunday.

However, police sources and officials in the chief minister's office categorically denied it. "Only two unexploded bombs were discovered and defused on Saturday", Jannat Hussain, principal secretary to chief minister told DNA.

One Sohail has been picked up from Nagpur for questioning on the supply of the material used in the bombs which the police said were armed with NeoGell 90, a class 2 explosive and a derivative of Amonium Nitrate. The material was manufactured by Amin Explosives Pvt Ltd, of Nagpur they added.

The bombs were triggered by gelatine stick rigged to an alarm clock manufactured by Prince & Co. Each bomb had 600 grams of metal ball bearings used in bicycles which have been traced to a cycle shop at Bibinagar 20 kms North-West of the city. Owner of the shop Mohammed Mustafa has been taken into custody for questioning. "The bombs were designed in a way that they caused the maximum damage to humans", said a member of the bomb squad.

The state police have pressed into service seven special teams for the investigations apart from setting up 40 check posts across the city.