Authorities confirmed 773 bodies and 2,880 injured persons in Goma's morgues and hospitals, Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya told a briefing in the capital, Kinshasa, adding that the death toll could be higher.

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.

Fierce fighting rages on in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma, as rebels and the army exchange fire. "All we can hear [are] gunshots around the city," one Goma resident, who has been trapped in his house since the weekend, told the BBC.