Three explosions that killed two people and wounded 11 in Istanbul today were bomb attacks that might have been carried out by the same group, Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said.
An unidentified man is helped to an ambulance after an explosion rocked the Star Holiday hotel in Istanbul early today
"I condemn these treacherous attacks," he said. "The three attacks could have been carried out by the same group."
Speaking to reporters, Mr Aksu confirmed two deaths and said 11 were injured in the explosions at two hotels and a gas depot.
Simultaneous explosions hit two hotels in tourist areas of Istanbul. Police chief Mr Celalettin Cerrah said the hotel blasts occurred around 2.00 a.m. local time. "These appear to be a terrorist attack," he said.
Two people were killed in an explosion on the third floor of the Pars hotel in Istanbul's Laleli district.
Hotel staff said someone had telephoned ten minutes before the blast and said there was a bomb in one of the hotel rooms. There were 37 guests in the six-storey hotel at the time.
Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu
The other explosion happened on the second floor of the Holiday Hotel in the popular tourist district of Sultanahmet. There were 20 people in that hotel at the time.
Anatolian said the wounded consisted of two Dutch citizens, two Chinese, a Ukrainian, a Turk and a Turkmenistan national.
Separately, a bomb exploded at a gas filling station in an outlying area of the city, causing material damage but no casualties, the Anatolian news agency reported. The news agency said the blast at the gas filling station followed a telephone tip-off about a bomb, and a company official said intruders had cut through a fence at the complex.
Four people were working inside the complex at the time but were unhurt.