Saudi Official: Health of Yemeni President 'Stable'

The health of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is being treated in Riyadh from bomb wounds, is "stable," a Saudi official affirmed Wednesday.

"The condition of the Yemeni president is stable," the official told Agence France Presse requesting anonymity, adding that the veteran leader was waiting for doctors to "appoint a date for cosmetic surgery."

The official said that "reports on the deterioration of his health condition are baseless".

Saleh was flown to the Saudi capital on Saturday after being wounded the day before in a bomb attack on a mosque in his Sanaa presidential compound.

Yemeni Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has insisted that Saleh was in good condition and that he will return to Yemen within days.

But Saudi newspaper al-Watan quoted Wednesday a Yemeni diplomat in Riyadh saying that Saleh had come out a critical stage after his life was "in great danger."

The unnamed diplomat said that "a medium-sized and contaminating piece of shrapnel had stayed for more than two days in a sensitive area near (Saleh's) heart," before it was removed in a operation at the military hospital in Riyadh, according to al-Watan.