Russian investigators are looking into the possibility that the mass murder in the southern Russian city of Stavropol could be drug-related, an official investigations spokesman on Saturday.
The bodies of five men and three women with gunshot and stab wounds were found on Friday in a house, belonging to a local crime boss Vladimir Slizayev, known as "Khan."
Spokesman Vladimir Markin said the dead people were the house's owner Slizayev, a drug smuggler who had served a given jail sentence, his family members and a driver.
An eight-year-old boy and four-week-old girl, believed to be Slizayev's granddaughter, have survived the slaughter. The children were blocked in a room on the second floor, investigators said.
While leaving the house, the killers damaged a gas tank to provoke a gas explosion in an effort to kill the children. However, no blast occurred and the children have been unharmed.
The boy is now giving evidence to police.
Earlier reports said antiques and jewelry were stolen from Slizayev's home.
Stavropol police beefed up security in response to the killings and are inspecting all vehicles leaving the city.
The killings came 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 22 (RIA Novosti)
