Officials: Rocket fired from Syria injures 6 in Turkey

Six people were wounded when a rocket fired from an area of Syria under the control of Islamic State hit the Turkish border town of Kilis today, Turkish officials said.

Windows were shattered and dust rose from smashed concrete on a busy shopping street, footage aired by CNN Turk showed. The local governor, Ismail Catakli, said in a statement that five of the wounded were children.

All of the injured were Syrian nationals, Mayor Hasan Kara said, adding that none of their injuries were life-threatening. Kilis is home to many Syrian refugees who have fled the civil war.

Turkey’s military said it returned fire at Daesh positions inside Syria.

“A rocket was launched at Kilis from a region under the control of Daesh,” the military said in a statement.

“We were able to determine the Daesh region from which the rocket came, and fire back with our weapons at the border.”

The rocket was the first such attack on Kilis since Ankara-backed rebels cleared Daesh from Turkey’s southern border this month.

Cross-border rocket attacks have killed 21 people and wounded 80 in Kilis since January, security sources said.

Rockets have reduced some parts of the town to rubble and provoked outrage against the government, which some residents say is failing to protect them. In April police used tear gas to disperse dozens of people protesting after a rocket attack killed one person and wounded 26.