Police detained two suspects in last week's horrifying mass murder of 12 people in South Russia's Krasnodar Region, a spokesman for the Russian Investigation Department said on Wednesday.
The bodies of eight adults and four minors, who gathered for a celebration in the village of Kushchevskaya, were found in a house set alight on November 5. The adults were stabbed to death, three children were strangled and one died of smoke inhalation.
"According to preliminary information, personal dislike could be a motive for such a brutal murder. Investigators are now probing the suspects' involvement in other crimes," Vladimir Markin said.
The identity of the detainees was not disclosed, but police said they were "active members" of a local gang. Police say the two suspects did not commit the crime on their own, and their accomplices are now being established.
"The detainees are now being interrogated. Other necessary investigative measures to establish the circumstances surrounding the crime are also being carried out," the spokesman said.
The press office of the local investigation department said on Tuesday that "five major versions [of the murder], including the business activity of the victims, are being probed."
The statement did not specify the other four possible motives, but said that investigators found "no signs of extremism, terrorism, inter-ethnic or inter-confessional conflicts."
Among those killed are farm owner Serever Ametov, 51, his 48-year-old wife Galina, 19-year-old daughter-in-law Yelena, baby granddaughter Amira and two adult neighbors.
Their guests, businessman Vladimir Mironenko, his wife, two daughters and parents-in-law are also among the dead. Mironenko was a financial director of the Aston agricultural holding, a major Russian producer of grain and vegetable oil.
MOSCOW, November 10 (RIA Novosti)
