Slovakia’s PM wounded in assassination attempt
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico suffered life-threatening injuries when he was shot and wounded in an attempted assassination on Wednesday, the government office said.
Fico, 59, was rushed to hospital in the central city of Handlova after holding a government meeting there, and was being transported by helicopter to the city of Banska Bystrica for urgent treatment, it said.
A Reuters witness heard several shots fired after the meeting in Handlova northeast of the capital Bratislava. Police detained a man and security officials pushed someone into a car and drove off, the witness said.
“An assassination (attempt) on Prime Minister Robert Fico was carried out today at the government’s off-site meeting in Handlova,” the government office said in a statement.
“At the moment he is being transported by helicopter to Banska Bystrica, because it would take too long to Bratislava in view of the necessity of an acute intervention.”
Emergency Services said they had received information about a man being shot in Handlova shortly after 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) and sent an emergency helicopter to a 59-year-old patient.
Broadcaster TA3 reported four shots were fired, and that the leftist prime minister had been hit in the abdomen.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, led condemnation of the attack, which also shocked the European Union and NATO member state’s allies in central Europe.
“Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good. My thoughts are with PM Fico, his family”, von der Leyen said.
The Slovak government was meeting in Handlova, 190 km (118 miles) northeast of Bratislava, as part of a tour of the country’s regions after coming to power late last year.