Doctors treating former Chilean military leader Augusto Pinochet have ruled out performing a second operation on him, saying it would be too risky.

General Pinochet, 91, underwent surgery to widen a blood vessel after suffering a severe heart attack early on Sunday. Doctors later performed a follow-up procedure. The general?s condition is said to be serious but stable.

Pinochet was in power from 1973-90, during which time more than 3,000 people were killed or ?disappeared?. He is under indictment in two human rights cases and for tax evasion.

<B>Last rites </B>

The former ruler was taken to the Santiago Military Hospital following an ?acute? heart attack and a build-up of fluid in his lungs, a statement from the hospital said

Doctors had carried out ?procedures that rescued him virtually from death,? Pinochet?s son, Marco Antonio Pinochet told reporters gathered outside the hospital. ?He?s in a pretty serious state...We?re in the hands of God and the doctors.? The former leader received the last rites from a Catholic priest, a family spokesman said.

Pinochet underwent angioplasty, a procedure designed to widen a narrowed or totally obstructed blood vessel, to stabilise his condition, he said. Later on Sunday, one of doctors treating the general, Juan Ignacio Vergara, said: ?No bypass has been performed and we expect no open heart surgery will be necessary.?

He added that such surgery involved high risks for someone of Pinochet?s age. General Pinochet overthrew the elected government of the left-wing President Allende in 1973 in a bloody coup.He was placed under house arrest earlier this week over the abduction of two people in 1973.

The charges relate to the Caravan of Death ? a military operation to remove opponents to Gen Pinochet?s rule. He currently faces two other indictments ? one for human rights abuses and another for tax evasion.

As a former president he enjoys legal immunity, but the courts can strip him of this privilege on a case-by-case basis.

On 25 November, his 91st birthday, General Pinochet issued a statement in which he took ?political responsibility? for acts that took place under his rule, saying that he had believed they were in Chile?s best interests. He also alluded to his failing health. ?Today, close to the end of my days, I want to make clear that I hold no rancour toward anybody, that I love my country above all else,? he said.

Pinochet has been in ill health in recent years. He suffers from diabetes and arthritis, and has also had a number of suspected strokes.

<B>Profile : Augusto Pinochet </B>

Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was born the son of a customs official in the Chilean port city of Valparaiso on 25 November 1915.

It was apparently his mother who pushed him into a military career, and his wife Lucia, the daughter of a prominent politician, who encouraged his ambitions.

As early as the 1950s he was involved in political struggles, as he headed the clampdown on the Chilean Communist party. Paradoxically though, it was for his apparent lack of political ambition that he advanced to the rank of general under the left-wing Popular Unity government led by Salvador Allende in the early 1970s. In June 1973 he was made commander-in-chief, again because President Allende thought he could be trusted. In September 1973, President Allende discovered how wrong he had been. He lost his life in the coup led by Pinochet, who headed a military junta representing all branches of Chile?s armed forces. Very quickly it was Pinochet who came to represent the military regime. It was he who ordered many of the purges that saw more than 3,000 supporters of the Allende regime killed, thousands more tortured, and many thousands more again forced into exile. He closed down the Chilean Parliament, banned all political and trade union activity, and in 1974 appointed himself president. Voted out. In the 1970s, many Chileans appeared to support this point of view, particularly as the economy recovered and stability returned. But there was always opposition to his rule, with protests and even a failed assassination attempt in 1986. It seems that the general underestimated the extent of this discontent. Under the constitution brought in by his military government, a plebiscite on his continued rule was held in 1988. To his surprise and dismay, he lost, paving the way for a return to civilian government. In 1990, he reluctantly stepped down as president, but remained commander-in-chief of the army. In that position, he frequently acted to quash the threat of prosecutions against members of the security forces suspected of human rights abuses during the 17-year military regime, as well as to block any radical political initiatives. In 1998, Pinochet finally relinquished his post as commander-in-chief. The very next day, he took up a parliamentary seat as a senator-for-life, another position he had created for himself. He seemed untouchable until his arrest and subsequent detention in London in October that same year, after an extradition request from Spain. The general was allowed to return to Chile in March 2000, after UK Home Secretary Jack Straw said he was not well enough to stand trial. In November 2006, he was indicted over the execution of two bodyguards of President Allende in 1973 and ordered to remain under house arrest The indictment came just after Pinochet celebrated his 91st birthday, a day on which he issue a statement in which he spoke of his love of Chile and the motivation for his actions:?Today, near the end of my days, I want to say that I harbour no rancour against anybody, that I love my fatherland above all and that I take political responsibility for everything that was done, which had no other goal than making Chile greater and avoiding its disintegration.?