A Croatian man shot dead five members of his family, including two children, before giving himself up to the police, local media reported. Jutarnji List daily confirmed on its website an initial report by state television of the killings in the northern Adriatic city of Pula.

It said Damir Voschion, 40, killed his father, brother, sister-in-law and two cousins, aged seven years and two months, respectively. Mr Voschion had no criminal record, the daily said.

Another news website, Index.hr, said the killer had used a gun to "sort out" a long-standing family dispute and then calmly walked to the nearest police station.

"I killed them all," the website quoted Mr Voschion as telling the police.

The killings was one of the worst incidents of its kind in Croatia since its 1991-95 war of independence from Yugoslavia.

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