Namibia’s deputy prime minister has said a spouse of a diplomat based in Ethiopia has killed her two children and attempted to kill the third child.

The third child is hospitalised.

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is also the minister of international relations, has asked the country to give the family privacy as they “absorb the sad and shocking news”, according to a statement.

The deputy prime minister did not indicate whether the spouse had been arrested over the incident, but the Namibian newspaper reported that the spouse had been detained by police in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

Investigations over the matter are ongoing, the newspaper added.