Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is no longer in a life-threatening condition.
He was shot in an assassination attempt. However, a government minister said he will pull through.
Slovak media say the shooter is a 71-year-old man and the motive is unclear.
Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC’s Newshour the operation went well.
“I guess in the end he will survive … he’s not in a life-threatening situation at this moment.”
Taraba said one bullet went through Fico’s stomach. The second bullet hit a joint.
An unnamed source told local media Fico was out of surgery and stable.
Fico was leaving a government meeting on Wednesday in Handlova when the gunman shot him five times.
Authorities had alerted emergency services who had received information that he had been shot.
The attack had left Fico in critical condition. He had to undergo surgery hours later.
Defence Minister Robert Kalinak said at a news briefing that Fico had suffered “serious polytrauma” after the shot wounds.
Fico returned as prime minister of the central European country, which is a member of the European Union and NATO.
Slovakia had elected Fico for the fourth time last year.
He has moved between pro-European mainstream and nationalistic positions opposed to European Union and US policies.
(REUTERS)
Traveller, bibliophile and wordsmith with a yen for international relations. A journalist and budding author of short fiction, life is a daily struggle to uncover the latest breaking story while attempting to be Hemingway in the self-same time. Focussed especially on Europe and West Asia, discussing Brexit, the Iran crisis and all matters related is a passion that endures to this day. Believes firmly that life without the written word is a life best not lived. That’s me, Ashwin Ahmad.
