Fracking site guard's home attacked with petrol bomb in Northern Ireland

A petrol bomb has been thrown at the home of a security guard working at a controversial fracking site in Northern Ireland.

The attack took place at a house in Letterbreen on the outskirts of Enniskillen in County Fermanagh.

No one was injured when the petrol bomb was hurled from a passing car in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Anti-fracking campaigners opposed to drilling at a beauty spot in Belcoo in the border county condemned the attack.

Donal O'Cofaigh, spokesperson for Belcoo Frack Free, said the attack was on the home of a member of Samdec Security, which is guarding the site where Tamboran Resources plans to drill.

O'Cofaigh said: "This attack is wrong and we condemn it. Such actions only undermine our goal of putting a halt to shale gas exploration. We ask those responsible to desist immediately. This action is not in our name.

"Belcoo Frack Free seeks to empower people through growing knowledge about this industry, whilst being engaged in peaceful dignified protest in a campaign that is gaining momentum. We will not allow ourselves to be distracted from this goal."

Local Ulster Unionist party councillor Alex Baird said he was concerned about fracking in the lakeland district, including the "potential of causing unstable ground structure and the possibility of land and waterways pollutant leading to public health worries".

Baird added: "I will not, however, be party of any campaign that breaks the law, has sectarian overtones and is violent."

The anti-fracking camp based outside the Tamboran site at Belcoo has drawn up a list of non-violent principles that protesters must adhere to in the campaign against drilling there.

Tamboran described the weekend petrol bombing of its employee's home as "an orchestrated and abhorrent attack on a local family in the middle of the night".

The company said: "Tamboran fully respects the right to peaceful protest. We welcome calls from those who have called for any protests to be peaceful. However, we cannot ignore such attacks.

"We call on all local political, community and anti-fracking representatives to unequivocally condemn this petrol bombing attack and to encourage people to share any information they have with the PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland]."