GAZA, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Israel carried out air strikes against targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after two soldiers were wounded in a mortar bomb attack by militants, the Hamas Islamist group and Palestinian witnesses said.

They said the air strikes targeted smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip and an open field in the southern town of Khan Younis used by militants to fire rockets at Israel.

There were no immediate reports of injuries. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Palestinian militants in Gaza fired two mortar bombs into Israel earlier on Tuesday, wounding two soldiers. Shortly after the attack, six Israeli tanks crossed into Gaza and one fired a shell at a house near Khan Younis. No casualties were reported.

The mortar attack was launched a day after Israeli soldiers killed a militant who the army said was planting explosives along the Israel-Gaza border.

The Israeli military says more than 115 rockets and mortar bombs have been fired from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory since the beginning of the year.

Israel launched a three-week war against Gaza's Hamas rulers in December 2008 with the declared aim of curtailing such attacks. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem, Writing by Ori Lewis and Joseph Nasr; Editing by Maria Golovnina)