Victims Of S. Africa Massacre Shot From Behind, Says Expert

Many of the African National Congress marchers killed in a 1992 massacre here were shot from behind, a ballistics expert testified Wednesday before a commission looking into apartheid-era crimes.

Twenty-nine people, including 28 marchers and one soldier, died when Ciskei homeland troops opened fire on an ANC protest march in the city on Sept. 7, 1992.

Twenty-five of the protesters were shot from behind or from the left, indicating they were moving away from Bisho Stadium at the time, ballistics expert Jacobus du Plessis told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The shootings happened when ANC marchers left the stadium and were fired on by troops of the defunct black homeland government.