Hyderabad: Ruling out the revival of tough anti-terror laws like POTA, the Centre said that despite having intelligence information on likely terror strikes sometimes it was not possible to pinpoint when and where it would occur. Pointing out that it was "not an easy job" to prevent terrorist attacks, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said "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." Patil made these remarks while talking to newsmen after visiting the scene of last night's twin blasts that killed 42 persons.

Patil's comments came hours after Chief Minister Y S Rajashekara Reddy rejected a suggestion that the blasts were a result of intelligence failure while asserting that the states cannot do much about this. "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," he said.

Patil refused to specify whether terror groups based in Pakistan and Bangladesh were behind the attacks saying "these things cannot be openly discussed" and it was for investigating agencies to ascertain all facts about the explosions. Reddy earlier in the day had had blamed "international terrorist organisations" based in Pakistan and Bangladesh for the blasts. Asked to comment on statements made by BJP leader L K Advani that terrorist attacks could have been prevented if anti-terror laws like POTA were in force, Patil said "We did what we felt was right.