A military patrol is said to have mistakenly opened fire on the presidential convoy late on Saturday.
 

"I want to reassure the citizens of Mauritania that the operation I underwent yesterday [Saturday] evening was a success thanks to the efficiency of the medical team that carried it out," he said.
 

Earlier, Communications Minister Hamdi Ould Mahjoub said Mr Abdelaziz was injured in the arm and that his life was not in danger.
 

A medical source told AFP news agency that he had had a bullet removed.
 

Unconfirmed sources in Nouakchott said Mr Abdelaziz had been hit in the arm and/or the abdomen.


Initially, Mauritanian radio reported Mr Abdelaziz had escaped an assassination attempt.
 

Many Nouakchott inhabitants tend to believe the "shot by mistake" claims as they are used to seeing the president walk in the city, play sport and drive his car without guards.


Some local reports say the president was targeted by a militant group while travelling from Tweila, north of the capital, where he spends most weekends.
 

He was travelling overnight to the capital as the week starts in Mauritania on Sunday.
 

President Abdelaziz came to power in a military coup in 2008 in the West African nation. He won presidential elections a year later held under an agreement with coup opponents.
 

He is seen by the West as a bulwark against Islamists in the region, particularly in neighbouring Mali.
 

Mauritania launched a joint military operation with Mali last year against the bases of Islamist militants in Mali before a rebellion in that country this year split it in two and hardline Islamists occupied the the country's vast northern region.