VIDEO | Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico wounded by gunfire

The ambush outside a cultural center in the city of Handlova, 180 km from Bratislava

ROME – Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was wounded by gunfire. The BBC reports this, citing local media. According to what we learn, Fico was shot in front of a cultural center in the city of Handlova, where a government meeting had been held. Journalists on site report that several shots were heard. The Slovak leader was taken to hospital and his alleged attacker arrested by the police. Handlova is located about 180 km (112 miles) north-east of the capital Bratislava.

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A video showed several men rushingto detain the suspect just outside the Handlova cultural center. The BBC has not yet verified the footage. In her first reaction to the shooting, Slovakia’s outgoing president, Zuzana Caputova, said she was shocked by the “brutal and merciless” attack on the prime minister and wished him strength to recover. Fico returned to power in Slovakia after the elections last September, at the head of a populist-nationalist coalition.