Slovak PM has new surgery

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's condition was "still very serious" two days after an attempted assassination, his deputy and close ally said yesterday, as police raided the suspect's home.

Fico was hospitalised after the shooting on Wednesday, which happened as the 59-year-old leader was speaking to members of the public after a meeting in the central town of Handlova.

"He was operated on again, he had an almost two-hour-long operation," deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak told reporters outside the hospital in Banska Bystrica. Fico had previously undergone a five-hour-long surgery, shortly after being airlifted from the scene of attack on Wednesday.

"His state is still very serious. I think it would take a couple of days to see the course of the development of his state," Kalinak added yesterday.

The Banska Bystrica hospital director said Fico remained "conscious" despite being in a "serious" condition. Earlier yesterday, local media reported that Slovak police had searched the home of the man charged with the shooting.

Officers brought along the alleged gunman to the apartment he shared with his wife in the western town of Levice, TV footage showed.