Twelve people, including four children, were killed in a knife and arson attack on a two-storey home in a village near Russia's Black Sea coast today, investigators said.
"Ten of the 12 died of multiple knife wounds," Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement, which described the attack as a "cruel and audacious crime".
Investigators said they had opened a murder investigation, but said it was not clear what the motive for the attack may have been.
NTV television said the house was occupied by a farmer and his family and that several guests were visiting. Pictures showed dozens of police guarding the crime scene.
Two of the children did not have knife wounds, the Investigative Committee's statement said. It said one was strangled and the other died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
The fire was ignited at three separate points in the house, located in a village in Russia's Krasnodar region, 620 miles south of Moscow, the statement said.
Interfax news agency quoted a local official as saying the fire was relatively small and was likely set to mask the killings.