Five people, including two children, have been found bludgeoned to death in a Sydney home in an "horrific" mass murder with no apparent motive.
Scene of the murders: Image from xxx.xxx.xx
Police said the victims, found in the house in the suburb of North Epping, were believed to be four family members and a female relative.
"The injuries of all five people are quite definitely horrific," Superintendent Geoff Beresford said.
"They're all blunt trauma injuries to the upper body and to the heads of all the victims, which regrettably makes visual identification very difficult.
"It was an extremely violent attack carried out, I guess, with some precision."
Reported victim Min Lin
Police said the bodies were believed to be a 45-year-old man and his wife, 43, their sons, aged 12 and nine, and the woman's 39-year-old sister.
They refused to identify the dead but media reports said two of the victims were Chinese-born Min Lin and his wife Yun Li Lin.
The deaths were initially thought to be murder-suicide, possibly linked to a domestic dispute, but Supt Beresford ruled out that possibility and admitted police were struggling to find a motive for the killings.
"It certainly is not a murder-suicide, it is simply, regrettably, the murder of five innocent people."
"The motive is unclear at this stage, it certainly doesn't bear the hallmarks of what you might call a traditional home invasion. Robbery does not seem to be the motive (but) we haven't ruled it out."
Neighbour Pamela Burgess described the family as "normal".
"They're a family of five, their kids went to the local school. They were very nice, they were normal."
Australia: Five People Found Blugeoned To Death In Sydney Suburb North Epping | World News | Sky News
Sky News: Family die in extremely violent attack