The body of the dead woman is removed from the property in Palma. | Alejandro Sepulveda

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A 50-year-old Palma man has been arrested for killing his 56-year-old partner. The body of the woman, identified as Celia N.M., was discovered around half ten this morning after the victim's daughter had phoned the 091 emergency number and said that she was unable to make contact with her mother.

National Police and a fire crew went to the property in the calle Margarita Xirgu in the Son Cotoner area. On entering, they also found the man (José María C.G.), who had slashed his arms in an apparent attempt to commit suicide. He was treated by medics; his condition was not serious.

He admitted to having killed the woman by hitting her on the head with a blunt object. Both Spanish, the couple had been living together for some months. There are no reports of him having previously been violent towards the dead woman or any other woman.

The secretary-general of the national government's delegation to the Balearics, Evelio Antich, expressed his utmost condemnation and revulsion at what is the sixth case in the Balearics this year of a woman having been killed by a partner.

President Armengol also expressed her condemnation and said that it is fundamental that public authorities and the general public work together in order to eradicate the "social scourge" that exists in "what we call civilised societies". The government, she added, is working on the pact against gender violence, which was approved last week by the cabinet.

"We have a lot more work to do," she concluded, before conveying her "total support" to the family and friends of the dead woman.

The town hall issued a statement that condemned the killing and violence towards women and which stressed a "firm commitment to building a city free of gender violence". The town hall will stage a minute's silence at midday tomorrow.