THE Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) spoke out on Monday to deny any involvement in last weekend’s deadly bomb attack in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

“Our people and the democratic public know closely that we are not related to this incident, that we will not directly target civilians and that we do not accept actions targeting civilians,” the PKK said in a statement published by the Firat news agency.

The denial came soon after the Turkish government blamed the outlawed Kurdish resistance group for the attack, which killed six people and wounded 81.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said: “According to our findings, the PKK terrorist organisation is responsible.”

No evidence has been provided to support the claim and no group has admitted responsibility.

Turkish police allege that the chief suspect is a Syrian woman, named Alhambra Albashir, who was working for Kurdish militants. She is one of 46 people who have been detained, police said.

Local media claimed that she was a trained PKK intelligence operative, but no proof was given.

Her detention comes amid a growing nationalist backlash against Syrian refugees in the country, with political parties blaming them for Turkey’s economic crisis.

There has been a sharp rise in racist attacks on Syrian and other refugees.