No link between Kazakhstan mass murders

Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry said Wednesday there is no connection between two mass murder cases under investigation. Eleven people, including a forest ranger, were found stabbed to death earlier this week in a national park near the capital city of Almaty, ministry officials said. The victims included relatives and co-workers of the ranger, Panayot Zaharopulo, 76, at Ile-Alatau State National Park. No suspects were identified, but officials said a blood-stained car at the scene belonged to a son of Zaharopulo. The son was missing. Two months earlier, a forest ranger and 14 border guards were killed in the same region, and a border guard was charged in the slayings, Radio Free Europe said Wednesday. Ministry spokeswoman Nurdilda Oraz told journalists there is no link between the incidents.