Slovak PM Fico recovering after assassination attempt

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's condition remains stable and he is improving as he recovers from being shot four times in an assassination attempt last week, doctors treating him said Monday.

The attack on Wednesday marked the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader in over two decades and underscored the deep political divisions plaguing Slovak society.

"After today's medical board meeting, the patient's condition is stable. He is clinically improving, communicating, and his inflammatory markers are gradually decreasing. The Prime Minister remains in our care," a statement from the hospital in Banska Bystrica where Fico is being treated said.

On Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak said Fico's life was no longer in immediate danger, though his condition was still too serious to be moved to a hospital in the capital Bratislava.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok revealed Sunday that an investigation team has been formed to look into whether the 71-year-old suspect identified as Juraj C., a former mall security guard and poet, acted alone as initially believed.

Estok stated investigators will seek to determine if the suspect was part of a larger group that encouraged one another to carry out the assassination, noting the suspect's internet communications were deleted two hours after the attack, likely not by him or his wife.

The assassination attempt on the prime minister, unprecedented in more than 20 years in Europe, has rocked the nation and laid bare the deep political rifts in Slovak society.