A 27-year-old man shot dead a two-month-old baby girl and then shot himself dead in Davel near Bethal, Mpumalanga police said on Wednesday.

Superintendent Abie Khoabane said the man and his 25-year-old girlfriend were having an argument around 7.40am on Sunday.

The man violently separated the baby from her mother and took the child to his bakkie. He drove off with the child.

The mother followed in her VW Polo and contacted the police while driving. Police and traffic police joined the chase.

The man started shooting at police who returned fire. The man was wounded in the neck and stopped the bakkie. He rushed into the nearby veld with the child in one hand.

In the veld he shot the baby in the head and then turned the gun on himself.

Police were investigating a case of murder and had opened an inquest docket on the apparent suicide.

"We urge our fellow countrymen, that if they have problems they can resort to social workers, counsellors or any other person of good standing in the community, maybe a priest or a teacher, to whom they could disclose their problems," said Khoabane.

Sapa