Goma is a key location in the conflict-battered North Kivu province whose minerals are critical to much of the world’s technology.

Residents in eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, were fleeing on Monday after Rwanda-backed rebels claimed to have captured the regional hub from Congolese forces as fighting escalated in recent days despite calls from the UN Security Council for the insurgents to withdraw.

M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo were reported to have taken the key eastern city of Goma in fierce fighting with government forces that sent streams of refugees fleeing area communities.

The M23 militia, funded and directed by Rwanda, said it had seized the city of Goma, terrifying its people, many of whom sought shelter there after fleeing the rebel advance.

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,

M23 rebels said they have advanced into Goma, a large city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Hundreds of thousands of residents have been displaced.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed they captured eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, early Monday, as the United Nations described a mass panic among its 2 million people and Congo’s government said the rebel advance was a “declaration of war.

Katanty, Yassin Kombi and Stanis Bujakera GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -Rwandan-backed rebels marched into eastern Congo's largest city Goma on Monday, and the U.N. said they were supported by at least some regular Rwandan troops,