Troops from Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have been firing at each other across their shared border in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, where Rwandan-backed rebels launched an offensive,

Gunfire rang out early on Monday across parts of Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, hours after Rwanda-backed rebels said they had seized the city despite the United Nations Security Council's calling for an end to the offensive.

Gunfire broke out before dawn Monday in the centre of the besieged Congolese city of Goma, after the Democratic Republic of Congo accused neighbouring Rwanda of sending more troops across

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Foreign Minister warned Sunday that an “attack of unprecedented intensity is taking place in plain sight of the world” as rebel forces and allied Rwandan forces entered the outskirts of Goma.

Fighting with M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo left six United Nations peacekeepers dead, UN officials said Saturday.

Fighting has escalated sharply in recent weeks in eastern Congo, where rebels have seized key towns and are closing in on the city of Goma, the government’s last stronghold in the North Kivu province,

STORY: Rwandan-backed fighters on Sunday closed in on eastern Congo's largest city of Goma……forcing thousands of civilians to flee, and grounding flights from the local airport as government forces battled to stop the rebels from seizing the city.

The international airport in Goma in eastern Congo has been evacuated and commercial flights temporarily grounded as Rwanda-backed rebels closed in on the key regional city

In the aftermath of its withdrawal from Goma, the M23 suffered a series of heavy defeats at the hands of the Congolese army, which was backed by a multinational force. The M23 were subsequently expelled from the country. M23 fighters then agreed to be re-integrated into the army in return for promises that Tutsis would be protected.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed they captured eastern Congo’s largest city of Goma early on Monday, as the United Nations described a mass panic among

The Congolese news website Actualite reports that Goma has descended into disorder; shops and homes are being plundered