A BRITISH Telecom employee was engulfed in flames yesterday in one of

a series of petrol bomb attacks in London -- part of a co-ordinated

Kurdish rebel campaign of violence against Turkish targets throughout

Europe.

Another person died and many more were injured as the rebels hit at

least 28 German cities and other European capitals, blasting banks,

travel agencies and airline offices, just after 10.40am.

BT building inspector Caroline Russell, a married women in her 20s,

was struck by a petrol bomb thrown through a ground floor window of the

BT headquarters building in Gresham Street, London.

Colleague Andy Buttery, 25, a clerical worker, threw himself on top of

her to douse the flames as she stood screaming in pain.

Mr Buttery was one of five BT employees rushed to Barts Hospital after

the incident. Four were treated for burns and smoke inhalation before

being discharged. Mrs Russell was later transferred to the burns unit at

St Andrew's Hospital, Billericay, Essex.

Last night, members of her family said that her injuries were not as

bad as first feared.

Two petrol bombs exploded in the BT office, resulting in the

evacuation of 1000 employees. Firemen then dealt with two more devices

left outside, thought to have been intended for a Turkish bank next

door. Other targets in London were the Turkish Embassy in Belgravia, the

Mayfair offices of Turkish Airlines, and a working men's community

centre in Stoke Newington, which was destroyed.

Three men were detained after the BT attack. A fourth was arrested in

connection with the Stoke Newington incident.

An arson attack on a Turkish restaurant in the German town of

Wiesbaden accounted for the one death, a man aged about 30. Eight people

were injured. The petrol bomb had been flung at the restaurant's door.

Diners scrambled out of windows and rear exits to escape the blaze.

Police arrested four people following this incident.

The Kurdistan Workers party, PKK, which is fighting for secession from

Turkey was blamed for the attack.

In another incident, about 20 assailants stormed the European

headquarters of the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet in Frankfurt and

ransacked offices, hitting a guard with sledgehammers and beating up a

journalist.

The Europe-wide onslaught echoed a similar and unprecedented assault

in June, when Kurdish militants attacked five Turkish diplomatic

missions and numerous travel agencies and banks in cities from Stockholm

to Marseille.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in Turkey's south-eastern

Kurdish region since 1984, when the Marxist PKK began its fight for a

separate Kurdish state.