Elsa, a young receptionist, winces in agony as a doctor lifts her left arm, which has been mangled by a gunshot wound. Yared, 11, looks up from his hospital bed, his face gripped with fear and pain, as nurses describe how a bullet entered his chest and exited his abdomen.

Across Addis Ababa residents are counting the cost of violence that rocked the capital 10 days ago, leaving more than 40 dead and hundreds wounded, including women and children. Elsa was in her family compound when a bullet tore through a fence and struck her arm. Yared was on a street where stone-throwing youths battled security forces.