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WHEN Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou slammed home a crucial 89th-minute winner against Tottenham Hotspur last month, he could barely celebrate. The football ace was still recovering from the horror his father had faced days before as bullets hit his Ivory Coast home and was later ransacked. As bloody civil war tore the west African nation apart, The Sun can now reveal that Kalou, 25, was not the only Premier League player's family targeted when violence and chaos erupted earlier this year. Kalou's teammate Didier Drogba's family were also victims. Drunken soldiers had raided his native village, dragging his uncle from bed at gunpoint and threatening to shoot his relatives. And the relatives of Manchester City brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure had to shelter as a battle raged around them and bodies lay on the street. The footballers had begged their families to flee but it was too dangerous as the republic descended into anarchy in April. The crisis was sparked as president Laurent Gbagbo stubbornly clung to power despite losing a general election to rival Alassane Ouattara. Ouattara's Republican forces swept down from the north to battle the dictator's army supported by Liberian mercenaries. According to the United Nations, more than 3,000 people were killed and horrific atrocities were committed by both sides. An estimated ONE MILLION people have fled the fighting. In the capital Abidjan, where Gbagbo was holed up before his capture, Kalou's dad was trapped by fierce fighting in the Yopougon area. He fled his flat and made a terrifying five-mile taxi dash to his son's house in the upmarket Deux Plateaux district. School teacher Antoine, 65, said: "It was very, very scary. There were bombs going off and there were snipers on the road. "The city was deserted as the soldiers fought but it wasn't safe near my house. There were bodies everywhere. Salomon rang up very scared. "He said, 'Please papa, please get out.' But it was too dangerous. There was a lot of killing. "Bullets landed on the house. I dived for cover. It was crazy." But the terror did not end there. Soldiers kicked down the door to his flat on May 3 but thankfully he was not there. The father-of-14 said: "I could have been dead if I had gone back. They kicked in the television and ransacked the place." Drogba's family was similarly targeted. During the unrest, a false rumour swept the country that the 33-year-old soccer star was funding hated Gbagbo as they both come from the same tribe. In early April rockets were fired into the town of Guiberoua - just two miles from Drogba's family village - setting homes ablaze. Drunk Republican soldiers then moved into the village of Niaprahio and kicked down the door to his dad's family home. His father was in London but Didier's uncle Zedi Gezu, 60, was dragged from his bed by soldiers. He told The Sun: "They had guns. I was very scared. They knocked me around and took everything in the house." Cousin Marc Drogba, 30, said: "We were terrified they would kill us. They threatened to shoot us." And the threats weren't empty. Just ten miles away 14 people had been hacked to death and disembowelled. Farmer Zedi said: "There were big problems with soldiers with their big guns." Despite its small size and population of 21million, Ivory Coast has produced some of the world's best footballers. Most have come through the Asec Mimosas Sol Beni academy in Abidjan, including the Toure brothers, Kalou, Arsenal winger Emmanuel Eboue and former Spurs midfielder Didier Zokora. And that has brought money to the cash-strapped country. The father of Man City's Toure brothers lives in a sprawling house also in the Yopougon area of the capital. Kolo, 30, had begged his dad to leave for neighbouring country Togo just before the fighting erupted. But their step-mum Miriam Konate, 59, became trapped with her sons and daughters. FA Cup hero Yaya, 28, barely raised a smile as he scored the final goal in City's 5-0 hammering of Sunderland on April 3. He had reason to be worried as his family were in grave danger. Surrounded by pictures of the famous brothers, mum-of-four Miriam revealed: "There were no lights on and it was very frightening indeed. We ran out of food and the fighting was going on from 6am to midnight." One half-brother of the pair, also called Yaya, 34, said: "There were bodies in the street and explosions. "We were worried the soldiers would get in the house. Yaya and Kolo were ringing up saying, 'Are you OK, we can get you out. Please be safe'. But it was too dangerous to go out." The battle for Abidjan finished when French troops stormed Gbagbo's stronghold and captured him on April 11. He is now under house arrest in a hotel. Yet despite his arrest, Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa exporter, is still riven with turmoil. Twitchy soldiers man roadblocks in the former French colony and sporadic outbreaks of violence are still taking place. The UN's 10,000 peacekeepers are now trying to keep rival tribes apart as ethnic killings continue. Just 300 troops are guarding 28,000 refugees in the town of Duekoue where 1,000 were massacred in late March. Mum-of-two Prisca Zebo, 26, is living in terror after soldiers attacked her village of Diahouin, killing 56. She said: "They surrounded the village armed with Kalashnikov rifles. They just shot at everyone - pregnant women and children. I saw one woman have her throat cut and was then thrown down a well. "They have dark hearts and I am terrified they will come again." Zonhon Borgeles, 28, cradles his two-year-old son Ziai in the camp where he struggles for food. He lost his wife and son, eight, in an attack on his Fangalo village that killed 78. Zonhon said: "They cut off the hands and legs of a woman so she couldn't run. "They shot my wife and son. I saw them burn people to death. I now have nightmares." This violence-plagued land is justly proud of its sons that have gone on to star in the Premiership. But footballing rivalries are far from their minds. For now they are simply begging for peace.