Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta remained in a serious but stable condition after undergoing further surgery Wednesday morning at Royal Darwin Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

 

 

File photo dated May 10, 2007 shows Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta at a news conference in Dili.

 

The president had been "in surgery this morning and he has come out of it," the Australian Associated Press quoted the spokeswoman as saying in the hospital.

 

"It's just more ongoing surgery... he has been operated on and he is still in a serious but stable condition," she added.

 

Ramos-Horta was shot up to three times by rebels in an attack outside his Dili home early Monday morning and was transferred later in the day in an induced coma to Darwin in northern Australia for further medical treatment.

 

Three surgeons at Royal Darwin Hospital operated on the president for two to three hours on Monday night, dressing bullet wounds and removing shrapnel.

 

The president is expected to remain in the intensive care ward for at least a week.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2008)