United Nations officials say there were dead bodies on the streets of eastern Congo’s largest city where hospitals are overwhelmed and hundreds of thousands are fleeing gunfire and shelling.

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.

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

South Africans are divided over the deaths of four more South African National Defence Force members who were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Large crowds have attacked a number of foreign embassies and a UN building in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa – furious over what they say is the failure to stop a major rebel offensive. The M23 militia has now managed to capture the airport in the eastern city of Goma, where water and electricity supplies are cut off.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels faced pockets of resistance from army and pro-government militia overnight after entering eastern Congo's largest city Goma in the worst escalation of a conflict that has run for more than a decade.

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 rebel alliance claimed the capture of the biggest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich eastern region this week, pushing back against resistance from government troops backed by regional and UN intervention forces.

Protesters have attacked missions in the capital of the African country as anger grows about the advance of the M23 rebel group.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday spoke separately with the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda about the escalating conflict in eastern Congo, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.