Police arrested a man who attempted suicide after throwing his three children into River Kabul near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Nowshera district on Thursday.

The man, 45-year-old Alamgir Khan, pushed his four-year-old son and daughter, 6, into the river before jumping himself along with his youngest son, District Police Officer (DPO) Nowshera Qasim Ali Khan said.

The DPO said although the man was saved by locals, his three children were swept away in Nowshera's Badrasha area.

The body of the man's three-year-old son has been recovered, while the bodies of the other two children have not been found as yet.

A first information report (FIR) has been registered against the father, who was working in Kuwait before returning home a month and a half ago.

During initial investigation, Alamgir claimed that he took the extreme step because his wife "did not take proper care of his children", the DPO said.