Murder suspected as eight men are found dead in Canada

CANADIAN police are investigating the suspected murders of eight men whose bodies were left in a remote wooded area on a farmer's property.

Police disclosed few details about the deaths at the farm in the eastern Canadian province of Ontario, about 32 kilometres south-west of the city of London, except to say that four vehicles were involved, including a tow truck, and that the dead were all men.

The bodies were found on Saturday morning.

"We are confident that all the victims were known to each other and were from the greater Toronto area," said Ontario Provincial Police Detective Superintendent Ross Bingley.

The bodies have been removed from the crime scene and await post mortems.

Det Supt Bingley said the victims have not been identified and he refused to speculate about the possible cause of death.

Police would not release any details about the victims until next of kin could be notified.

"Obviously, we're not used to having eight people at one homicide scene," Det Supt Bingley said.

"[In] 27 years of policing, I don't recall that number of people at any one location, so obviously it's fairly significant."

They found the bodies after a call from the property owner, who is not considered a suspect.

Police have so far refused to discuss any possible links to organised crime, although surrounding Elgin County has a history of biker activity.

Police have been stopping cars to ask drivers what they have seen.

On Saturday, an aerial view showed the vehicles parked within 200 yards of each other, the bodies still inside. One body was visible, lying curled on its side in the trunk of a jeep.

The jeep was found in a field about 20 metres off a dirt road. About 100 metres away, the tow truck bearing a Superior Towing logo on the side was found parked on the shoulder, a Volkswagen hooked to the back.

The owner of a Superior Towing franchise in the Toronto area denied that the truck was part of his fleet.

Police escorted members of the media beyond the barricades for a closer look at the area, but there was little left to see.

"We've never had anything like [this], to the best of my knowledge, in Ontario," said Police Constable Doug Graham.

London is about 160km south-west of Toronto and about 48km north of Lake Erie.