One Killed as IS Rockets Hit Turkey Border Town
The Turkish border town of Kilis on Tuesday came under fire from rockets launched from an area of Syria controlled by Islamic State (IS) jihadists, killing one person and prompting Turkey's army to retaliate.
Eight people were wounded in the second consecutive day of rocket fire on the town center, including a 42-year-old man who later died of his wounds, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
In response, Turkish artillery hit IS in neighboring Syria, a Turkish government official told AFP.
During a separate incident, a Turkish soldier stationed on the border in the Kilis region was seriously wounded after being hit by gunfire from a region where IS was clashing with rebels, the Dogan news agency reported.
Two rockets fired from northern Syria had earlier hit the center of Kilis -- just a few kilometers north of the Syrian border -- one landing in an empty field and the other hitting a four-story hostel, Anatolia reported.
Several more people were wounded when rockets fired from northern Syria hit the town on Monday. The Turkish official told AFP that the rockets were fired from IS-held territory.
Following the latest strikes on the town, dozens of people rallied in the center of Kilis to call for greater security measures against the fire, Turkish media reports said.
"Kilis, unfortunately, is face-to-face with external terrorist actions," the town's mayor Hasan Kaya told Anatolia.
NTV television said 19 people had been hurt in the town this week alone by rocket fire from IS-controlled areas.
Turkish armed forces "responded immediately within the frame of rules of engagement and struck Daesh positions," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told his party's lawmakers in parliament, using another name for the IS group.
He said the government had taken every measure to ensure the safety of the Turkish people. "We are ready to take any step when needed," he said.
The exchange of fire comes after the IS wrested back control of the town of al-Rai, near Turkey, which rival rebels had captured last week.
Neither the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front nor IS are included in a truce brokered by the United States and Russia that came into force on February 27.
In mid-February, Turkish artillery had also shelled targets of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) inside Syria, with the military saying it was responding to incoming fire.
Source: Agence France Presse
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