CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- The bombing of a crowded Planet Hollywood restaurant probably came in retaliation for the U.S. attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan, but was likely the work of a local group rather than outside forces, South African officials said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, FBI officials in Washington announced they were sending a team of agents to help investigate the attack, at the request of South African authorities. An agent from the FBI's Pretoria office will be joined by two technicians, who were in Kenya to investigate the bombing of the U.S. Embassy there.

The blast Tuesday evening killed two people and wounded 27 in Cape Town's trendy Victoria and Albert waterfront district, a popular tourist destination.

In an interview with the radio station Cape Talk, a spokesman for the group Muslims Against Global Oppression denied an earlier claim of responsibility for the bombing.

"It is not something we would do," Mohammad Ahmed told the station.

Early reports indicated a caller to the station had said the group was behind the attack.

"Anyone can call a radio station and say they are from MAGO," Moain Achmad, the group's coordinator, told The Associated Press.

Achmad condemned the bombing and speculated it was carried out to discredit Islam and scare people away from a march his group was organizing on the U.S. Embassy on Saturday to protest U.S. missile attacks in Sudan and Afghanistan.

Device possibly thrown into restaurant

In Washington, the U.S. State Department said Muslims Against Global Oppression was anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli. Some members were among the 40 or so people who protested U.S. policies toward Iraq and Israel during U.S. President Clinton's visit to Cape Town in March.

The White House condemned the bombing, but said it had no information that it was "politically motivated."

South African Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi said the bombing was probably linked to the U.S. cruise-missile attacks, South African Broadcasting Corp. radio reported. The U.S. attacks were launched last week in retaliation for the bombings earlier this month of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

"As far as (South African) President Mandela is concerned, it is immaterial whether the bombing is retaliation or not. We will still treat it as an attack against innocent South Africans, against innocent people," said Parks Mankahlana, Mandela's spokesman.

Police said the Planet Hollywood explosion was caused by a device planted in or thrown into the restaurant.

Ambulances and firefighters rushed to the dockside building housing the eatery. Police cordoned off the building and were backed up by armored cars.

"It's a shame," said onlooker Patty McGoughran of Washington, D.C., who was on a business trip to install computers. "It's such a beautiful place, and this is appalling. We are scared after things like Nairobi. But we thought we were safe here."

'Everything went dark'

Bobby Brown, a radio reporter who went to the scene, said witnesses reported the blast appeared to come from the kitchen. Rescue workers set up a type of field hospital outside the building.

"I did see at least one person that was taken away with the bottom half of their legs blown off," the reporter said.

Another witness, Joe Kroukam, said he and a partner were having dinner in a section that was not badly damaged.

"We were sitting having supper, and we heard a loud bang behind us. Then debris was falling down on our plates, and I turned round, and I saw all these people lying around with limbs missing. It was terrible," he said.

Kroukam said diners who were not hurt helped carry the injured to the pavement outside. Five members of a family from Hampshire, England, among those hurt.

"We had just arrived and were being shown our seats when the whole place was torn apart," Iris Giddings, 65, the only member unharmed, was quoted as saying by Press Association.

"There was a flash and then everything went dark as the ceilings and walls seem to come down upon us. I was knocked down and saw my family all lying injured before me. It was one of the most terrible things I could imagine seeing."

Bombing campaign vs. suspected drug dealers

Cape Town is one of South Africa's most popular tourist venues and attracts millions of people each year. It has a small Muslim population.

The city has been hit recently by a spate of violence involving a group purportedly trying to stop the drug trade that involves the city's gangsters.

The group, called People Against Drugs and Gangsterism, is suspected of being behind a series of bomb attacks against suspected drug dealers.

Correspondent Pierre Thomas and Reuters contributed to this report.