Pakistan protests over US missile strikes

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-20 22:26

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan summoned US ambassador Anne Patterson on Thursday to protest over missile strikes launched by pilotless drone aircraft against militant targets in Pakistan.

A boy stands at the site of suspected US drone attacks in the Janikhel tribal area in Bannu district of North West Frontier Province November 19, 2008. [Agencies]

The protest came a day after a suspected US missile strike on Pakistani soil killed five militants, possibly including an Arab al Qaeda operative.

There have been at least 20 strikes in the last three months, reflecting US impatience over militants from Pakistan fueling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and fears that al Qaeda fighters in northwest Pakistan could plan attacks in the West.

Pakistan says the attacks violate its sovereignty, undermine efforts to win public support for the fight against militancy, and make it harder to justify the US alliance.

Wednesday's attack on Bannu district was unusual in that it took place deeper in Pakistani territory, in an area outside the semi-autonomous tribal lands bordering Afghanistan where most other attacks have focused.

Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir lodged "a strong protest" over the "two missiles fired by US drones on a residential compound in Bannu district," a foreign ministry statement said.

Bashir "stressed that these attacks must be stopped."

An embassy spokeswoman confirmed the ambassador had been summoned and said any message from the Pakistani government would be conveyed to Washington, without elaborating further.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani called the missile attacks "intolerable" and voiced hope President-elect Barack Obama's government would show more restraint.

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