Eight children, seven of them siblings, aged between 18 months and 15 years were on Friday found stabbed to death inside a home in the Australian city of Cairns, in a gruesome mass murder days after an Iranian gunman and two hostages were killed during a 17-hour siege in Sydney.
The 34-year-old mother of seven children, who was stabbed multiple times, is in a stable condition in hospital, police said, as they begin what will be an extensive investigation into one of the worst single-family killings in Australia. The house in the Manoora suburb has been cordoned off and detectives are searching the yard.Police have said it was a “tragic event” but there was no cause for public concern. A 20-year-old brother of the seven dead siblings made the discovery in the house, media reports said. Thre eighth one was a family member, police believe. Queensland Police said in a statement earlier that they were called to a residence in Murray Street following reports of a woman with serious injuries.