The Pakistani government is protesting missile strikes on its soil by the United States against suspected militants, following another attack earlier this week.

Pakistani officials summoned U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson Thursday to lodge a formal protest in the capital of Islamabad.

There have been at least 20 missile strikes in the past three months, mostly by pilotless drones, against suspected al Qaeda and Taliban militants, reflecting growing U.S. impatience with the Pakistani government's inaction to root out and destroy militant enclaves.

U.S. officials say Pakistan's failure to do so gives the militants opportunities to plan new attacks against American forces in neighboring Afghanistan, as well as against the West in general.

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 U.S. alliance.

© 2008 Newsroom.