Congolese television viewers watched stunned as the host of a morning talk show was cut off in mid-sentence by armed intruders who stormed the studio and appeared to be staging a coup.
Protesters wielding machetes and automatic weapons attacked the state broadcaster on Monday. They also attacked the airport and main military base in Kinshasa, the sprawling capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, before being repelled by the army, officials said.
The surprise assault at the heart of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest and most unwieldy state highlighted the fragility of President Joseph Kabila's central government. The assailants declared themselves loyal to a Christian evangelical prophet.
Lambert Mende, a government spokesman, said about 40 were killed in the exchange of fire on Monday morning, including 16 at the military base, 16 at the airport and eight at the television station. Another six were captured, he added. "These are terrorists - you can't call them anything else," Mende said.
The first most residents knew of the attack was during a programme on Radio Television Nationale Congolaise, the state broadcaster. The talk show hosts were speaking when attackers with knives burst in.
Footage of the incident shows a young male and young female presenter sitting at a table looking alarmed while a man in a blue T-shirt stands behind them.