Turkish shelling kills 55 Islamic State militants in northern Syria -military sources

Turkish shelling killed 55 Islamic State insurgents in northern Syria on Saturday evening, military sources said, in retaliation for weeks of rocket attacks on a Turkish border town.    

 

Artillery fire hit the regions of Suran and Tal El Hisn north of Aleppo, as well as Baragidah and Kusakcik, taking out three rocket installations and three vehicles in addition to the killings of the militants, the sources said on Sunday.   

 

Earlier on Saturday, U.S.-led coalition air strikes in Syria killed 48 Islamic State militants, according to a report from state-run Anadolu Agency.  

 

The Turkish border town of Kilis, which lies just across the frontier from Islamic State-controlled territory of Syria, has been regularly struck by rockets in recent weeks. 

 

Kilis is about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Aleppo, Syria's embattled, biggest city and the biggest strategic prize in a more than five-year-old civil war.  

 

The Turkish military usually responds with artillery barrages into northern Syria, but officials have said it is difficult to hit mobile Islamic State targets with howitzers. Turkish officials have said they need more help from Western allies in defending the border.   

 

So far, about 20 people have been killed and almost 70 wounded in the rocket fire on Kilis, Anadolu said.