A father shot dead his young daughter and then committed suicide after a stand-off with police lasting several hours in the Limburg village of Reuver.

The man, who was in his 40s, locked himself in the house with the three-and-a-half year old girl after a row with her mother over visitation rights, Nos television said.

During the argument, the man shot his ex-wife in the leg and then went into the house. The family was known to social workers and the police, Nos said.

The man was in contact with police for the entire morning and appeared to be on the point of giving up when contact was broken off.

Witnesses

Police stormed the building to end the stand-off shortly before 15.00 hours after surrounding the house for much of the day. Witnesses told Nos they heard two loud bangs as police entered the building and the area filled with smoke.

The tragedy is the third murder-suicide involving fathers and their children to hit the headlines in the Netherlands this year.

In September a man and his three young sons were found dead in a holiday house in Drenthe. The man was apparently unhappy at long divorce negotiations.

In May a father killed his two sons and hid them in a drainage ditch before committing suicide in woods near Utrecht. He too was embroiled in a difficult divorce.