Turkey Shells Syrian Targets After Rockets Hit Border Town

Turkey’s military returned fired into an Islamic State-controlled area of Syria after rockets hit the southeastern Turkish border town of Kilis for the third straight day on Wednesday, security sources said.

There were no casualties in Kilis after multiple rockets landed in an empty field, Mayor Hasan Kara told Reuters. The security sources said the Turkish military fired howitzers into Syria in response.

“We go to sleep to the sounds of rockets and we wake up to the sound of rockets,” Kara told Reuters by telephone.

Kilis is home to an estimated 110,000 Syrian refugees and is frequently targeted by artillery from across the border, a region controlled by Islamic State terrorists.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday that 21 people had been wounded by shelling so far this week. Hospital sources later said that one of the wounded had died.

In March, two people, including a young child, were killed by rocket fire in the city.

The Turkish armed forces often respond to such attacks by firing at targets in Syria.

Turkey is facing multiple security threats. As part of a U.S.-led coalition, it is fighting Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq. It is also battling Kurdish terrorists in its southeast, where a 2-1/2-year ceasefire collapsed last July, triggering the worst violence since the 1990s.