Residents of the besieged city of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, say they are gripped by fear as gunshots continue to ring out around their homes, days after rebel forces claimed they had taken over.

The scene is the result of the invasion of Goma on January 27th by M23, an armed group under the control of Rwanda, Congo’s neighbour, which abuts the city. Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president, has escalated a crisis whose origins go back decades.

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.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed 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, the Associated Press reported.

A conflict that has raged for decades reached a flashpoint this week when rebels backed by Rwanda marched on a key Congolese city in a bid to occupy territory and exploit minerals.

The mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been dogged by conflict for more than 30 years, since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.Numerous armed groups have competed with the central authorities for power and control of the potential fortune in this vast nation.

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame said he agreed with the U.S. government on the need for a ceasefire in eastern Congo but gave no indication of bowing to calls for Rwandan troops and the M23 rebels they support to withdraw from Goma.

M23 rebels captured the key city of Goma in the eastern DRC Monday, forcing thousands of civilians to flee in the latest in a series of advances - Anadolu Ajansı

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), is deeply concerned about the hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced over the last few days in Goma, North Kivu Province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Once again, the eastern Congolese city of Goma has fallen to the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group. The mayhem is certainly real; the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) displacement crisis is second only to Sudan’s,

After a lightning offensive, M23 rebels now control Goma, a large city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.