Authorities in the southern Russian city of Stavropol are holding an emergency meeting after eight people were found dead earlier in the day.
Stavropol police found the bodies of five men and three women, all bearing gunshot wounds, hidden in a garage.
The emergency meeting was to open at 10:00 pm local time (19:00 GMT), immediately after local Governor Valery Gayevsky’s arrival from Moscow, a government spokesman said, adding that the meeting will involve police officials.
A local police source said two children, an 8-year-old boy and a newborn girl, were found in an apartment belonging to the dead people, who are all believed to be members of the family or immediate circle of a local crime boss known as “Khan.”
Another source said only a girl survived the slaughter. The girl, born on January 6, has been admitted to a local hospital, the source said, adding that she was in a satisfactory condition.
Stavropol police beefed-up security in response to the killings and are inspecting all vehicles leaving the city.
Investigators from Moscow are on their way to Stavropol to assist in the case.
The city of Stavropol is the administrative center of the Stavropol Region, part of Russia’s volatile North Caucasus Federal District. Alexander Khloponin, the Russian presidential envoy to the North Caucasus, has been informed of the case and discussed the situation with the Stavropol governor, Khloponin’s spokeswoman said.
The killings come just two months after the bodies of 12 people, including eight adults and four children, were found in a house in the village of Kushchevskaya, in the southern Krasnodar region. A local crime boss has been charged with organizing the murders.
MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti)
