Two killed as southern Turkish town hit by rockets from Syria: mayor

Two people, including a young child, were killed and another two people were wounded when the southern Turkish town of Kilis came under repeated rocket fire from across the Syrian border on Tuesday, the local mayor and security sources said.

Kilis, which is near the border, was hit by eight rockets in what was believed to be a deliberate attack from an area of Syria controlled by Islamic State militants, Mayor Hasan Kara told Reuters.

"The first rocket landed in an empty field. Then, when people started gathering, they started firing around those areas," he said.

"They are being fired intentionally. We are guessing that the rockets came from an area under Daesh control."

Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

One rocket landed in an area near a hospital, Kara said, adding that one of those killed was a child born in 2011.

A residential area near a high school was also hit and the Turkish military returned fire into Syria, Turkish security sources said.

A large explosion was heard, followed by a plume of black smoke rising up from nearby buildings, live footage from state-run broadcaster TRT World showed.

Kilis schools have been closed but the town is calm, Kara said.

The rocket fire came a day after the U.S. military said coalition forces had targeted Islamic State in Iraq and Syria with two dozen strikes near 15 cities.