Two British couples suffer violent death near southern Spain

Two unrelated cases of violent deaths involving British couples near southern Spain surfaced on Monday, with a shooting at a villa near Benidorm and a stabbing in Gibraltar.

The Spanish news agency Efe said that a couple with two children were found stabbed to death in a rental apartment in Gibraltar.

Police sources told the agency that the deceased were a British family that appeared to live in Spain and had arrived in Gibraltar some days before. An investigation is in progress.

The other case involved a British couple that where found shot dead on Sunday in Xalo, Spain. The town is located north of the popular tourist destinations of Benidorm and Alicante.

Spanish Guardia Civil told the BBC that the British couple had lived in Spain for 18 years and that investigations are ongoing.