MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police have discovered the bodies of a woman, her husband and their two young children in what authorities believe was a disturbing new case of gender-based violence, allegedly committed by the husband before taking his own life.
Although the government was still collecting all the pieces of information about the "terrible" incident in El Prat de Llobregat on the outskirts of Barcelona, everything pointed to gender-based violence, Equality Minister Ana Redondo told reporters on Wednesday.
"If that latest case is confirmed, we're talking about nine women killed so far this year, and seven children, which is where the increase is the toughest and most intolerable," she said.
Catalonia's regional court system confirmed the four deaths of members of the same family in a statement and said a court dealing with violence against women was in charge of the case. It did not provide details on how the four died.
Several local media cited police sources as saying the man had apparently strangled his family at their home on Monday night and then threw himself under a train after leaving a suicide note in his car.
Redondo said that significant advances on women's rights, particularly in what regards sexual consent, in recent years have provoked "brutal, very tough" reaction from male chauvinists, including a wave of hateful messages online.
"It is possible that we are seeing a shift in the reaction of male chauvinists, which is to attack where it hurts a woman the most, by generating violence against children," she said, promising to reinforce measures against violence in coordination with the Interior Ministry and regional authorities.