<b>Hyd twin blasts</b>: AP blames Pak, Bangla outfits

The Andhra Pradesh government today blamed international terrorist organisations based in Bangladesh and Pakistan for the twin blasts in the city that claimed more than 40 lives.

"As things stand today, the available information points to the involvement of international terrorist organisations in Bangladesh and Pakistan," Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy told reporters after an emergency meeting of the state cabinet.

Rejecting a suggestion that the near simultaneous blasts were a result of intelligence failure, Reddy said: "Most of the times, external terrorist organisations are responsible for such ghastly acts. The state government will not have the wherewithal to go into this sort of intelligence operations." "We cannot have intelligence networks in Bangladesh and Pakistan," he said.

He blamed terrorist organisations in Bangladesh and Pakistan for the explosion that had occurred in Mecca Masjid in the city in May this year.

He said no arrests have been made so far in connection with yesterday's blasts.

The Chief Minister announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakhs to each family of the blast victims, a government job to the families who lost their bread earners and Rs 20,000 for the injured.

The Chief Minister put the death toll at 40, including seven engineering students from Nasik in Maharashtra, two railway policemen from Madhya Pradesh, six women and three children.