(Reuters) -Rwandan-backed M23 rebels asserted their control over east Congo's largest city Goma on Thursday by calling on residents to resume normal life, even as the group clashed with Congolese troops as they tried to take more territory.

By Yassin Kombi and Sonia Rolley GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -President Paul Kagame said Rwanda was ready for "confrontation" as he rejected criticism over his backing for M23 rebels who were pushing south on Thursday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after capturing the major city of Goma.

Regional tensions spiral as peacekeepers killed in fighting following Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group offensive

Local sources said Kigali-backed fighters were advancing on a new front and had seized two districts in South Kivu province, after the rebel group’s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

Rebels backed by Rwanda have captured more towns in eastern Congo as fighters moved beyond the key city of Goma in an apparent attempt to expand their control in the conflict-battered region

The rebels, which Rwanda denies supporting, have long been funded at least in part by the illicit mineral trade.

M23 rebels, with support from Rwandan troops, marched into Goma earlier this week and are now advancing south toward Bukavu.

Rebels backed by Rwanda captured more towns in eastern Congo as fighters moved beyond the key city of Goma in an apparent attempt to expand their control in the conflict-battered region

Congo’s leader has called on young people to enlist in the army to help fight Rwanda-backed rebels attempting to seize more territory in the country’s conflict-battered east

The Rwanda-backed armed group M23 vowed Thursday to "continue the march of liberation" to the DR Congo capital Kinshasa, as its fighters made further advances in the mineral-rich east of the country.

“Goma is a strategic and highly symbolic city with an international airport, as well as proximity to Rwanda and Lake Kivu, opening the easy path with South Kivu,” he said. But, most ...