An eight-day-old infant died after monkeys allegedly attacked twins and threw one of them from the roof of the house in Tamil Nadu, police said

The incident took place on Saturday when the twin girls were sleeping in the bedroom before the monkeys attacked them, police told AFP on Sunday.

The infant twins mother, Bhuvaneshwari called for help when she saw a group of stray monkeys entering the bedroom and taking the children away. She rushed to rescue her twins, but the monkeys climbed to the terrace and dropped one child to the roof while flung the other baby in the air, where she hit the drain and died.

"Hearing her scream, neighbours gathered to help and tried to save the children," the police official said.

The other infant was safely rescued.