Deadly clashes rock DR Congo's Goma as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels enter city

At least 17 people have been killed in clashes between M23 rebels backed by Rwanda and forces loyal to the Democratic Republic of Congo's government in the eastern city of Goma, hospital sources said Monday. Kenyan President William Ruto said his Congolese and Rwandan counterparts would attend a crisis summit on Wednesday.

Clashes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's besieged city of Goma have killed at least 17 people and wounded nearly 370, hospital sources said on Monday, as the Congolese military fought to hold off M23 forces backed by the Rwandan army.

Artillery fire and gunshots echoed across the major hub in the DRC's mineral-rich east, as Kigali said five civilians were killed across the Rwandan border.

There were conflicting accounts over how much of Goma remained under Congolese control after the M23 armed group and Rwandan soldiers entered the city centre on Sunday night.

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"We are in our beds because we are afraid," Goma resident Lucie told AFP by telephone.

"We can hear the shooting outside our homes, we cannot leave."

The M23 resurfaced in late 2021 after years of dormancy and began seizing large swathes of North Kivu province.

But fighting with the Congolese military has intensified since early this year, in the latest chapter of the internal and cross-border violence which has dogged the eastern DRC for three decades.

Besides the more than a million who call Goma home, the provincial capital is host to nearly as many displaced by fighting.

Hospitals in the city were on Monday treating 367 people wounded in the clashes, while tolls obtained by AFP listed at least 17 people dead.


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