A mother who survived when she was shot on Christmas Day by her ex-husband, who also shot dead their two children, has woken up from an artificial coma, but police have been unable to speak to her, as she is still too ill to be questioned.

The woman’s Albanian ex-husband shot himself dead after shooting the woman and their two boys at the family home in the small town of Glinde near the northern German city of Hamburg on 25th December.

Police are currently investigating the shooting and believe the father, named as Flamur Rexha, 44, shot his two sons with a single bullet each before shooting his wife and then himself, but they are waiting to speak to the woman to confirm what happened.

A police spokesman said: “It is believed that the children and the mother were shot in quick succession, although the exact order is not yet known.”

The alarm was raised by the neighbours of the family, who local media report were ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.

The neighbours heard gunshots from the block of flats where the family lived, according to the police.

The two unnamed boys, aged 11 and 13, and their parents were all found with gunshot wounds and eight spent cartridges were found by the police when they arrived.

The emergency services declared the two children dead at the scene. The 44-year-old father died of his injuries a short while later.

The man’s wife, Advije Rexha, 38, was the only one to have survived and was taken to hospital, where she had been in an induced coma until now.

A police spokesperson added that the man did not have a licence for the gun and that the killings may have been motivated by family problems.

Neighbours reportedly said that the father, a craftsman, was quick-tempered.