section with multiple columns

Question

I would like to have a section (or alike) with multiple (2) columns and fill this with a table of contents so that the items are distributed over the columns.

As a reference in LaTeX this can be accomplished with something like:

\begin{multicols}{2}
\begin{list}{}
\item \contentsline{section}{\mbox{\hyperlink{index_item1}{First Item}}}{\ref{index_item1}}{}
\item \contentsline{section}{\mbox{\hyperlink{item2_item2}{Second Item}}}{\ref{item2_item2}}{}
\item \contentsline{section}{\mbox{\hyperlink{item2_item3}{Third Item}}}{\ref{item2_item3}}{}
\end{list}
\end{multicols}