20 “They looked at his identity card and shot him dead” Six months of post-electoral violence in Côte d’Ivoire Shelling of residents of Abobo In late February, security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo began to shell densely populated areas of Abobo, a district of Abidjan that had come under the control of anti-Gbagbo armed elements who called themselves the Invisible Commando. Many people, including women and children, were killed in the shelling. Information gathered by Amnesty International also indicates that when they crossed the Abobo district, security forces fired recklessly, killing and wounding unarmed residents. On 11 March 2011 shortly before midnight, a shell landed in the courtyard of a family residence, killing three children and seriously wounding several members of the same family. One of the people present at the scene told Amnesty International: "When we went to bed, we couldn’t hear any noise or gunfire but suddenly, in the middle of the night, around 11:30pm, we heard a loud noise. A shell had hit our neighbour's courtyard. An adolescent aged 12, who was asleep, was killed immediately. Koné Toumoutou, aged six and Bakary Koné, aged two, were mortally wounded and died after being transferred to a health centre. Two other children from the same family were wounded. Several adults, including the grandmother, aged 53, were wounded." On 17 March 2011, shells were fired at a marketplace in Abobo, killing at least 20 people and wounding approximately 60 others. An eyewitness told Amnesty International: "That afternoon, before the prayer, some women were selling their produce at Gagnoa Station market, in Abobo. Everything was quiet when we suddenly heard a big noise as the place was hit by a shell. At least ten people, mainly women, were killed and others were wounded." Another witness said that, a short while after the 1pm prayer, children were playing on the ground when the shell hit the place. "A woman, Bamba Aminata, entered the courtyard with her baby. She was hit by the shell. She died of her wounds at the hospital a few hours later. Her baby was wounded and another baby aged 18 months was killed by that same shell." A man in Abobo Hospital told Amnesty International that he had seen the corpses of 13 people, including a woman and a child aged about five or six who had been killed as a result of this shelling. On 21 March 2011, another shell hit the Céleste neighbourhood of Abobo. An eyewitness told Amnesty International: "Everything was quiet except for the noise being made by the children and the water in which we were washing before prayers at 6.30pm, when suddenly, a shell hit the courtyard. Three people, including a child aged 12, were killed and two others were wounded." Another witness said: "I can still see those two women, with their legs blown off by the shell. They were taken to hospital but they did not survive their injuries. One of them had several shrapnel wounds." Amnesty International May 2011 Index: AFR 31/002/2011