An investigation into a violent kidnapping continues after police found a badly burnt body of a woman inside a torched car after her eight-year-old son was severely assaulted.
The gruesome discovery came after five men broke into a 45-year-old woman's Bankstown home, in Sydney's southwest on Thursday night and severely assaulted both her and her son, police said.
The woman was dragged into an SUV that was later found burnt out in Beverly Hills, about 6km away.
A badly burnt body was discovered inside, which authorities believe is the kidnapped mother.
Police cannot rule out that she was burned alive.
The kidnappers, who had firearms, assaulted an eight-year-old boy with a baseball bat so severely he had to be placed into an induced coma after undergoing surgery for serious head injuries.
His 15-year-old brother, who gave police an account of the ordeal, was also taken to hospital for assessment.
The boys' father is believed to have been interstate on a business trip and is returning to to Sydney to support his children.
"This crime is horrendous, the level of violence is unheard of," Superintendent Rodney Hart said.
Neighbours have told reporters they had heard a woman's scream that night and described the woman as friendly.
Police believe the incident was a targeted attack, reassuring the community the kidnapping was not random.
The family was not known to police, they said, and they are trying to work out how the men knew the 45-year-old, or if the incident was gang or organised crime-related.
Police will undertake a large CCTV canvass between the two crime scenes and are appealing for the public to come forward with any relevant information or video.
