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.
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