The dawn sky above Mekele was just rising.
A low announced the arrival of five Regia Aeronautica Ca.133 bombers, each flying in tight formation.
Below, the market square had just begun to stir farmers laying out baskets of grain, vendors hauling pottery onto carts, the morning bells of St. Michael's Church ringing softly.
The first bomb struck without warning.
A thunderclap followed, splitting open a spice stall and sending two children crashing into a nearby goat pen.
Screams tore through the air
One of the bombers dropped its payload across the western quarter of the market, igniting a stretch of thatch-roof homes in a rolling burst.
"Take cover!" a militia guard shouted, dragging a vendor down behind a broken cart.
The second pass sent a wave of fragmentation bombs across the outer block near the hospital.
The roof gave way.
Nurses pulled the wounded into the open, laying them on bed sheets stained with soot and blood.
