ISTANBUL: A banned radical Turkish Marxist group has retracted its claim for a suicide bombing in the heart of Istanbul's tourist district, saying it did not carry out the attack that killed the bomber and one policeman.

Examine: Radical Marxist group claims Istanbul suicide attack

Reports earlier this week suggested Tuesday's attack was carried out by a Russian woman from the Muslim Caucasus region of Dagestan, and not the female bomber that the far-left militant group initially said had executed the strike.

“The attack on January 6 in Sultanahmet... was not carried out by our organisation,” the Marxist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) said in a statement on its website.

“We therefore withdraw our claim for the action. We apologise to our people and our supporters,” it said.

Take a look: Female suicide bomber hits police station in Istanbul

It said that the error was down to a “technical problem” that had arisen due to the need to keep internal communications to a minimum while living under “fascist conditions”.