WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday condemned deadly bombings in Istanbul but said no Americans had been killed or injured in the blasts, denying a claim by one of two groups to take responsibility that it had hit two US intelligence agents in the attacks.
"We strongly condemn the bombings in Istanbul this morning," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. "We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the victims of the bombings and their families.
"No Americans are known to have been injured in the explosions," he told reporters.
Later, a second department official expanded on Ereli's remarks, saying that Washington had confirmed that no US citizens had been killed or wounded.
Two people were killed and 11 wounded in the blasts which have been claimed by a group linked to the al-Qaeda Islamic militant network, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, and a previously unknown Kurdish group, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons.
The nearly simultaneous strikes hit the Turkish city during peak holiday season, rocking two tourist hotels and a gas complex.
"The Abu Hafs (al-Masri) Brigades have carried out the first of a series of operations that will be launched in the face of European states... and the upcoming attacks will be more violent," the group said a statement posted on an Islamist website.
The Abu Hafs group, which claimed responsibility for the March 11 train attacks in Madrid that killed 191 people, and the bombings of British and Jewish interests in Istanbul nine months ago, warned of more similar strikes in Europe.
In a second statement posted to the website, group also said it had "succeeded in targeting two elements of the US intelligence in a direct strike."
But the pro-Kurdish MHA news agency in Germany then reported receiving a telephone call claiming the bombings in the name of the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons in retaliation for "recent operations in Kurdistan and the execution of Kurdish guerrillas."
The caller did not specify whether the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons were linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) or its most recent incarnation, the KONGRA-GEL.
Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu hinted earlier that police were looking at possible Kurdish involvement in the bombings.
He noted the recent arrests of four alleged PKK members in Istanbul suspected of involvement 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.
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.