The UN on Tuesday said the humanitarian situation in the besieged DR Congo city of Goma was "extremely worrying" amid mass displacement, food shortages, looted aid, overflowing hospitals and widespread sexual violence.

There are growing international calls for peace talks to end the escalation of violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The fate of the economic and trading hub Goma is still unclear. UN officials have said the situation is chaotic with fighting continuing in parts of the city.

The UN and global powers fear the conflict could spiral into a regional war akin to those of 1996-1997 and 1998-2003 that killed millions.

Bodies are lying on the streets. Medical staff in overwhelmed hospitals are treating hundreds of wounded civilians against the backdrop of gunfire and mortar fire.

A day after the rebels marched into the lakeside city, protesters in the capital attacked a UN compound and embassies including those of Rwanda, France and the United States, expressing anger at what

Thousands fled the city of Goma on Monday as fighting raged between Congolese forces and rebels backed by neighboring Rwanda, who claimed to have captured eastern Congo’s largest regional hub.

Gunshots rang out through parts of the besieged DR Congo city of Goma on Tuesday, as Congolese soldiers clashed with militia fighters backed by Rwandan troops ahead of a UN

Gunfire echoed through Goma, eastern Congo's largest city, on Tuesday as Rwandan-backed M23 rebels encountered resistance from the army

Hospitals are overwhelmed in east Congo's city of Goma, treating hundreds of patients with gunshot, mortar and shrapnel wounds while many dead bodies lay in the streets, U.N. and other aid agencies said on Tuesday.

A rebel alliance spearheaded by the ethnic Tutsi-led M23 militia said it had seized the lakeside city of more than 2 million people.

The UN and global powers fear the conflict could spiral into a regional war akin to those of 1996-1997 and 1998-2003 that killed millions.