(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Two people were killed and 16 were wounded in a Turkish border town yesterday by rockets fired from Syria, local authorities said, as Turkey continues its offensive against a Syrian Kurdish militia.
Three rockets hit neighbourhoods of Reyhanli in southern Turkey and 68-year-old Rifat Sinirli died in hospital, the state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
Reyhanli mayor Huseyin Sanverdi said on Twitter that a man was killed by a rocket fired from Syria's Afrin region, a Kurdish enclave where the Turkish army has launched its offensive against the YPG militia deemed 'terrorists by Ankara.
Later in the afternoon, he announced a second man was killed in another attack by 'treacherous terrorists.
The Hatay governor's office said 16 people were injured.
Sinirli's funeral was attended by dozens of people including Hatay governor Erdal Ata standing in front of a coffin covered with a Turkish flag.
His weeping relatives screamed: 'Let the terrorists be cursed!. Two rockets also hit the nearby border town of Kilis, one landing on a street and the other on an empty field near the state hospital, according to Anadolu.
There were no casualties in Kilis and the Turkish artillery fired in response, the agency reported. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said earlier that 82 rockets have hit the Turkish border provinces of Kilis and Hatay, including the town of Reyhanli, since the start of the Turkish operation on January 20.
Seven people have been killed so far in mortar fire.
Turkey says the YPG is an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.
But the YPG has been working closely with the United States against the Islamic State group in Syria.
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