ANKARA, Aug 10 (AFP) - A previously unknown Kurdish group Tuesday claimed responsibility for deadly blasts in two Istanbul hotels, following a similar claim by the Al-Qaeda network, the pro-Kurdish MHA news agency reported.
"A person who called our agency and presented himself (herself) as an activist from the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons organization claimed responsibility for the acts in Istanbul which claimed two lives," the Germany-based agency reported.
The person said the attacks were in retaliation for to "recent operations in Kurdistan and the execution of Kurdish guerrilas," adding that details would be revealed later, MHA said.
The agency is seen here as a mouthpiece of the former outlawed Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody 15-year campaign for self-rule in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, and groups related to it.
A MHA reporter contacted by AFP said the caller did not specify whether the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons were linked to the PKK or its most recent incarnation, the KONGRA-GEL.
"It is the first time we`ve heard about this group," she said.
Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu hinted earlier that the police were looking into a possible Kurdish involvement in the bombings, in which 11 other people, mostly foreign tourists, were injured.
Two near simultanous attacks targetted two hotels in the heart of Istanbul early on Tuesday.
They were followed about an hour later with two explosions at a major gas complex in the outskirts of the city, in which no one was harmed.
Aksu said the police had recently cracked down on the PKK, arresting four alleged members of the group in Istanbul.
The four suspects were thought to have been involved in a July 2 bomb attack on the convoy of the governor of the eastern Tunceli province, in which six people were killed and 23 injured, and other violent acts in the mainly Kurdish southeast, Aksu said.
"Our colleagues are looking into all these links," he said.
The PKK called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire with the Ankara government on June 1, warning foreign tourists and investors to stay away from Turkey.