Intelligence agecies had twice warned AP police about blasts

First advisory was issued on February 9, the day Afzal Guru was hanged inside Tihar jail

The serial blasts in the heart of Hyderabad might have taken the Andhra Pradesh police by surprise but the intelligence agencies had twice warned the state police that there was a possibility of terrorist attack in the city.

The first advisory to the state police was issued on February 9, the day Afzal Guru was hanged inside Tihar jail, while the second alert to the police was issued by the intelligence agency on February 19 only two days before the multiple blasts in the city.

“We had intelligence inputs for last two days which was shared with all the states,” said Sushil Kumar Shinde, home minister, while talking to reporters in Delhi. However, no terrorist organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack in the city.

Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde announced that 10 people were killed in the multiple blasts while several others were injured in the attack. Although home ministry officials were not naming the terrorist organisation that carried out the blasts, they are not ruling out the role of home grown terrorist organisation in the attack.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed to maintain peace and calm in the country but emphasised that terrorists responsible for the attack would be punished for the multiple blasts.  Home ministry has also advised all state police to be alert, especially in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, which are some of the most vulnerable cities of the country.   

Senior officials of the home ministry said that a team of bomb experts of National Security Guards (NSG) were being sent to Hyderabad while another team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was also asked to leave immediately to city to find out about the group that was behind the serial blasts.

Home ministry officials also said that 8 people were killed in the first blast while 2 were killed in the second blast. Security agencies elaborated that the multiple blasts were carried out at an interval of five minutes, which has been the modus operandi of some of the home grown terrorist outfit that are known for carrying out such multiple attacks.

The twin blasts have made security agencies worried as they fear that even after issuing alerts in advance, terrorist organisations are able to carry out attacks in the city.