(Reuters) -Congolese troops with support from Burundi's army appeared on Friday to be holding back a push south by Rwandan-backed rebels seeking to expand their grip on eastern Congo in a weeks-old advance that has raised fears of a broader regional conflict.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral body has accused the Rwandan army and M23 rebels of looting polling office facilities in Goma, a city in eastern Congo.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed on Monday they captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped.