Slovak PM in ‘life-threatening’ condition after assassination attempt

Handlova: 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 2:30pm, local time, 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.