MIRAMSHAH, Oct 6: Three members of a family were killed and two others injured in an exchange of rocket fire between tribal militants and security forces in Datakhel area of North Waziristan Agency early on Thursday.

Residents and official sources said that tribal militants had fired four rockets at the military camp in Datakhel area at 1:30am on Thursday.

One of the rockets struck the wall of the camp and the other three landed at abandoned places in the region, residents told Dawn.

They said that security forces in retaliation also fired rockets and opened mortar fire in the direction from where the miscreants had launched the attack.

One of the rockets fired by the security forces hit a house in Datakhel area, causing the death of three persons - a Khadarkhel tribesman, his wife and son. Two other members of the family, including a five-year-old boy, also received injuries, residents said. But the names of the family could not be ascertained.

Security forces, however, refuted the claim of Khadarkhel tribesmen of Datakhel area and said it was one of the four rockets fired by militants that had struck the house.

An Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR) press release issued in Peshawar on Thursday said that tribal militants had launched an attack on the Datakhel military camp and one of the rockets had hit the boundary wall of the camp and another had hit the house.

The statement said that the rocket could not have hit the same area because it had landed far away from where it had been fired.