A man threw his four young children from the upper floor window of their family home on a Croatian island on Thursday, injuring two of them seriously, police said.

The children, ages 3, 5, 7 and 8, were hurled early morning from a height of some 6m. The two older children suffered serious bone fractures while the younger ones were less badly hurt.

"The two seriously injured children are in intensive care, while the injuries of the other two are not life threatening," Doctor Zeljko Culina told Croatia's HINA news agency.

Police who detained the 54-year-old father are trying to determine his mental state.

The incident has shocked the small community on the Adriatic sea island of Pag.

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