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DARWIN (Australia) - TIMOR Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta was on Tuesday in serious but stable condition following overnight surgery for bullet wounds sustained in an assassination bid, a doctor said.
But while his wounds are 'extremely serious,' surgeons in Australia, where the ailing president was evacuated to after being shot by rebels in Dili early on Monday, expect him to make a full recovery.
Royal Darwin Hospital General Manager Doctor Len Notaras said that Mr Ramos-Horta had undergone two and a half hours of surgery late on Monday but was recovering well from his second operation in 24 hours.
'Three surgeons were working on the gunshot wounds he sustained in the incident. The operation went well and President Ramos-Horta is quite stable,' Dr Notaras said adding that he suffered three bullet wounds.
'He remains in an extremely serious condition as you don't get shot by a high velocity weapon and not have serious injuries,' he said adding that Mr Ramos-Horta was in an induced coma to manage his condition and surgeries.
Doctors in the northern Australian city of Darwin removed fragments of one bullet and worked on the lower lobe of his right lung, which was badly damaged, Dr Notaras said.
Shrapnel from a second bullet remains in his body and will be removed in future surgery, the next round of which is expected to take place within 36 hours, he said.
Mr Ramos-Horta, who was reportedly out walking when gun-toting rebels arrived at his residence, was hit by two or possibly three bullets that formed three deeps wounds in his lower chest and back, Dr Notaras said.
'It's difficult to immediately tell with high-velocity weapons how many bullets hit him, but it was certainly two, possibly three, that seem to have entered roughly from the same direction - the right side and back,' he said.
Mr Ramos-Horta is sedated and on a ventilator, but Dr Notaras said he was not on life support as he would be able to breath even without mechanical assistance.
President expected back at work in a month
The speaker of the country's parliament said during a visit to Portugal that Mr Ramos-Horta should be back at work within a month.
'I hope that the period of recovery for the president ... won't be too long. I hope that within a month the president will be able to take up his functions again,' Fernando de Araujo said in Lisbon. -- AFP
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