The Baklaba and Cake cafe was heaving with customers when truck-loads of heavily armed men in fatigues rolled up across the road outside the local government headquarters in Ethiopia's Amhara region.
The men, some carrying two Kalashnikov assault rifles, stormed the building, sending customers enjoying a Saturday afternoon coffee in the cafe diving for cover, witnesses said.
Within moments, the assailants had shot dead Amhara's president, an aide and fatally wounded the state's attorney general.
Hours later, 325km to the south in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, gunshots rang out behind the high grey walls of a red-roofed villa as the military's chief of staff and a retired general were slain by a bodyguard.
The attacks, described by the government as part of a coup attempt in Amhara, highlight the dangers Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed faces as he rolls out ambitious reforms in Africa's second most populous nation – a regional powerhouse whose economic boom is now threatened by deepening ethnic and regional fissures.
Since Abiy came to power in April 2018, attention abroad has focused on the rapid political, economic and diplomatic changes he has been introducing in one of the continent's most closed and repressive countries.
"The world out there wanted to believe the fairy tale. They became obsessed with their own narrative," said Tamrat Giorgis, the managing editor of the Addis Fortune, a privately-owned English-language newspaper. "But that doesn't chime with what is happening on the ground. It is much more complex and scary."
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Fragile Reforms
Abiy has loosened the iron grip the central authorities held over a deeply fractured nation, freeing imprisoned opposition leaders, rebels and journalists, lifting bans on some political parties and sealing a peace deal with arch-enemy Eritrea.
His plans to partially privatise some state enterprises have piqued the interest of foreign multinationals hoping to profit from market of 100 million people, and should breathe life into the debt-laden economy.
But the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), itself a coalition of four ethnically-based parties, faces strident challenges from newly emboldened regional powerbrokers demanding more influence and territory.
Ethnic violence has killed hundreds of people. That, and a severe drought, means some 2.4 million people are currently displaced in Ethiopia, the United Nations says.
For a graphic of displacements in Ethiopia, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/2FC0zff
"Abiy's reforms removed the lid on many accumulated grievances," said Rashid Abdi, an independent Horn of Africa analyst. "Making the transition to a more open society is always dangerous."
Abiy's response to his biggest challenge yet will not only define his leadership but could determine whether Ethiopia will sustain its decade-long boom, or spiral into the violence that has plagued neighbouring Somalia and South Sudan.
Former intelligence officer Abiy, son of a Muslim father and Christian mother, is from Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, the Oromo, who spearheaded years of anti-government protests that eventually drove his predecessor to resign last year.
Abiy has the right profile to reassure several disgruntled sections of Ethiopian society, analysts say.
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Deep Divisions
But the divisions Abiy must bridge in Amhara and elsewhere are old and deep. Asamnew Tsige, the rogue general accused of orchestrating Saturday's violence, often invoked them.
"Five hundred years ago, we faced a similar test," Asamnew told graduating Amhara Special Forces this month, referring to the historical expansion of Oromo people into Amhara.
The history of Amhara, which has provided Ethiopia with its national language, is a source of pride for many who belong to the country's second largest ethnic group.
Some there resent the fact the previous federal government was dominated by Tigrayans who make up about 6% of the population - and now the prime minister is an Oromo. Border disputes simmer with neighbouring Oromia and Tigray.
Asamnew fanned those flames when he was released last year after nearly a decade in prison for a previous coup attempt. The regional government named him head of security to placate his hard-line base. He began recruiting for a new state-sanctioned militia and called on the Amhara people to arm themselves.
Seven Amhara leaders, including acting regional president Lake Ayalew, had gathered for a meeting in Bahir Dar, Amhara's regional capital, when gunmen tried to burst in at 4pm.
"They struggled to open the door," Lake told Amhara Mass Media Agency. Three officials ran for an exit but were gunned down, he said. The rest hid. Guards and attackers exchanged fire.
The attorney general was badly wounded. "We tried to tie up his wounds with a curtain. The other two were already dead," said Lake.
After the hit squad killed the state officials, fighting broke out at the police station – now peppered with bullet holes – and the local EPRDF headquarters, witnesses and Asemahagh Aseres, a regional government spokesman, said.
Asemahagh said Asamnew's new militia had appealed for others to join their putsch but had been rebuffed.
The gunfire ended about five hours later, after federal reinforcements arrived by helicopter, the witnesses said.
Dozens of people died in the fighting, and the security forces killed Asamnew in a shootout on Monday, near Bahir Dar, Asemahagh said.
For days, regional state-run television ran rolling coverage commemorating the three murdered officials.
But on the streets, some suspected an official conspiracy, accusing federal authorities of orchestrating events to remove a popular and powerful regional leader.
"The federal government doesn't want a strong leader here. The general was mobilising the youth at the regional level, and they didn't like it," said a young man at a street cafe, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons.
