JAKARTA - Slovakia's prime minister, Robert Fico, is in stable but serious condition after undergoing five hours of surgery, officials and doctors said on Thursday, having previously been shot five times from close range in an assassination attempt.
PM Fico was shot after attending a government meeting in Handlova City and intended to greet the people who were waiting for him outside the meeting location.
PM Fico was then flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital, before being flown to another hospital in Banska Bystrica, east of Handlova, where he spent more than five hours in surgery, hospital officials said.
Director of F.D. Roosevelt University Hospital, where PM Fico is being treated,tta Lapunikova, said the prime minister had undergone five hours of surgery with two teams to treat several gunshot wounds.
"Currently his condition is stable but his condition is very serious, he will be treated in an intensive care unit," he told reporters.
On Thursday morning, Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalimenguk said PM Fico's condition "has stabilized overnight, more steps have been taken to improve his health. The situation is very serious."
"Unfortunately the condition is still very serious, because of the complicated injuries suffered, but we all want to be sure that we will manage to deal with this situation," he said.
Separately, suspected shooters have been identified by several local media as 71-year-old men from southern Slovakia. However, there has been no official confirmation of the identity of the shooter, although his face was clearly visible on several video recordings of the attack and subsequent arrests. Meanwhile, Slovak media reported that penuh was a writer and poet.
No one else was injured in the attack. The suspect is an armed man who has been detained by the police.
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News site tvnoviny.sk reported on Thursday that the police had charged the suspect with attempted murder and he could face a sentence of 25 years to life imprisonment.
The shooting was the first open assassination attempt against a European political leader for more than 20 years, sparking international condemnation.
The incident raises questions about PM Fico's security arrangements, as the attacker managed to fire five shots from close range, although the prime minister was accompanied by several bodyguards.
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