East Timor President Ramos-Horta offers thanks in first comments since assassination bid

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta thanked medical staff and his supporters Wednesday in his first public comments since a failed assassination attempt a month ago.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ramos-Horta said in a videotaped message that he would not immediately talk about the details of the Feb. 11 shooting by rebel troops outside his home in East Timor's capital, Dili.

"Today is the first time I have been able to speak publicly," Ramos-Horta said in the message, parts of which were broadcast by television and radio in neighboring Australia. "Although I am refraining from making a political speech, this being Easter week I wish to use this opportunity to thank all who prayed for me, who looked after me, who cared for me following the assassination attempt."

Ramos-Horta was rushed to a hospital in the northern Australian city of Darwin after the shooting.

He spent more than a week in a medically induced coma and has undergone surgery five times. Doctors have said that he would have one more operation for skin grafts and that he was expected to make a full recovery.

Dr. Len Notaros, the general manager of the Royal Darwin Hospital where Ramos-Horta was being treated, said the president would likely stay there for at least one more week. He could then be discharged but was likely to remain in Darwin for a while so he would have access to follow-up care there.

Ramos-Horta was ambushed by East Timorese rebel troops whose leader, Alfredo Reinado, was shot and killed by presidential guards during the attack.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped unharmed from an ambush on his motorcade the same day.

The attacks underscored East Timor's volatility six years after it declared independence following decades of harsh rule by neighboring Indonesia and a period of U.N. administration.