Slovakia's PM Robert Fico remains in serious condition after further surgery

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico underwent another operation after being shot in an assassination attempt earlier this week and remains in serious condition.

Fico, 59, was shot multiple times on Wednesday while greeting supporters after a government meeting in the former coal mining town of Handlova, in an attack that has shocked the nation.

"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, per AFP.

Fico had previously undergone a five-hour-long surgery, shortly after being airlifted from the scene of the 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 on Friday.

The Banska Bystrica hospital director said Fico remained "conscious" despite being in a "serious" condition.

Earlier on Friday, local media reported that Slovak police had searched the home of the man charged with the shooting.

Officers brought along the alleged gunman, who was wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet, to the apartment he shared with his wife in the western town of Levice, Markiza TV footage showed.

"Police stayed in the apartment for several hours... They took the computer and documents out of the apartment," the private broadcaster said.

Police, who told AFP they would not comment on an ongoing investigation, have not named the suspect but media have identified him as 71-year-old writer Juraj Cintula.

He was charged on Thursday with attempted murder with premeditation in what the authorities have called a politically motivated attack.

"This is a lone wolf whose actions were accelerated after the presidential election since he was dissatisfied with its outcome," Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said.