JNN 28 Nov 2012 Riyadh : Saudi King, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, has been in a state of ‘clinical death’ for the past two days, reported Albawaba News quoting Arabic newspaper Asharq Alawsat on Monday.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has slipped into a coma and is clinically dead nearly a week after a 14-hour-long back surgery in a hospital in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, a report says.

The Saudi king, who was taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a Riyadh hospital following his surgery, has gone into a coma and has been living with the help of a ventilator over the past two days, a Saudi journalist at the London-based Asharq Alawsat said.

According to medics of the hospital, the king’s basic organs, particularly his heart, lungs and kidneys do not function and the doctors have been forced to use electric shocks to stimulate his cardiac muscles several times.‘The fate of the king will be determined within three to four days.’

The Saudi king’s surgery aimed at correcting “a ligamentary slackening in the upper back” began on Saturday November 18 and ended at dawn on Sunday November 19.

The news seemingly contradicts reports from the Saudi Royal Court, which publicly announced that the eleven hour operation had been a success. According to state news agency, SPA, the monarch, believed to be in his late 80s, was in hospital for surgery to tighten a ligament in his back.

News of the King’s ‘clinical death’ has raised questions over who will be his successor. Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince Salman ‘reassured’ Saudis during a cabinet meeting on Monday about King Abdullah’s health, more than a week after the monarch had surgery, state news agency SPA reported.

The king, believed to be in his late 80s, was admitted for surgery on November 16 and an announcement from the Royal Court said he had undergone a successful back operation that took 11 hours.

The 89-year-old king’s health has declined over the past few years, and he has been hospitalized several times.

In October 2011, Abdullah underwent a similar operation to tighten ligaments around his third vertebra.

In 2010, he had two rounds of back surgery in the United States after suffering a herniated disc.

Failing health, old age as well as the deaths of the king’s half-brothers have raised concerns about the future of the oil-rich country in the face of anti-government demonstrations.

The crown has passed down a line of sons of the kingdom’s founder King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, who died in 1953.Abdullah – who took power in 2005- named his brother Prince Salman, 13 years his junior, heir apparent in June after the death of Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz. Salman deputises for the king while he is away and has chaired both this week and last week’s cabinet meetings.