Bratislava, May 15 (TASR) - An attack on the premier is also an attack on the state as well as the internal security of Slovakia, head of the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party Branislav Groehling has said in reaction to Wednesday's attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), who was shot following the government away-from-home session in Handlova.

Groehling in this vein called on society to calm down. "The escalation that is taking place in society can lead to what we are experiencing now," he remarked. "The fact that we have different political opinions is right, we can exchange them politically in Parliament," Gröhling noted, adding that he doesn't want tensions to be "blended" into society, however. At the same time, Groehling wished Fico a speedy recovery.

Meanwhile, head of the House committee for the supervision of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) Maria Kolikova (SaS) called the incident an attack on the internal security of Slovakia, adding that she's considering convening a special session of the committee over the attack.