Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico underwent a two-hour operation on Friday that have increased hopes for his recovery, a deputy prime minister said, following an assassination attempt this week that sent shockwaves through Europe, Paralel.Az reports citing Reuters.

Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak also said any decision to transfer Fico back to the capital Bratislava from the central city of Banska Bystrica where he is being treated would only be taken when there had been further improvement in his condition.

"It will take several more days for us to know definitively which way it is going," Kalinak told reporters outside the Banska Bystrica hospital. "I think the surgery today... will allow us to move closer to a positive prognosis."

"I am in a better mood because I see there is progress. It is still very serious but for me hopeful."