Rushdie off ventilator

NEW YORK: Salman Rushdie is on the road to recovery, family and friends said Sunday, days after an assault left him on a ventilator with multiple stab wounds.

Just hours after Friday´s attack at a literary event in western New York state, the British author had undergone emergency surgery for potentially life-threating injuries. But his condition, while still serious, has since shown clear signs of improvement and he no longer requires assisted breathing.

“He´s off the ventilator, so the road to recovery has begun,” his agent Andrew Wylie said in a statement. “It will be long; the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction.”

Police and prosecutors have provided scant information about background of suspected assailant, 24-year-old Hadi Matar from New Jersey, or the possible motivation behind the attack. Matar’s family appears to come from the village of Yaroun in southern Lebanon, though he was born in the US, according to a Lebanese official.