At least six explosions tore through the Ethiopian capital today, killing three people and injuring at least 21 in the latest of a series of mysterious blasts to strike Addis Ababa this year.
There were unconfirmed reports of up to nine explosions, but police, scrambling to keep track of the apparently coordinated attacks, could only immediately confirm six.
A police spokesman said the death toll might rise.
A bomb at a cafe in a busy market area around lunchtime killed two, following three explosions earlier in the day that struck a commercial district and a minibus.
Federal police spokesman Commander Demsashe Hailu said a third person was killed when a bomb went off on another minibus.
In a third minibus explosion, the driver and conductor escaped injury by jumping from the vehicle as it began to explode. The force of the explosion hurled the bus against a nearby wall, completely destroying it, witnesses said.
Police cordoned off the blast sites and urged people to come forward with any information about who was behind the bombings.