15/07/2013 11:16
Congo army clashes with M23 rebels close to eastern city of Goma
Democratic Republic of Congo's army clashed with fighters from the M23 rebel group close to the eastern city of Goma on Sunday, in what appeared to be the most serious combat for several weeks, Reuters reported.
In a statement, M23 said the fighting started at 2 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) when the army attacked its positions in the town of Mutaho, some 7 km (4 miles) from Goma, a city of a million inhabitants.
The rebel group, which sparked international outcry when it seized Goma in November, said its troops were responding firmly.
"Kinshasa's army has just launched a large-scale attack on M23's positions at Mutaho," Vianney Kazarama, an M23 spokesman, told Reuters.
Colonel Olivier Hamuli, an army spokesman, said the rebels had attacked government forces.
"The initiative for the fighting came from M23. It was them who attacked us at Mutaho," he said by telephone from Goma.
The M23 has accused the army and pro-government militia of trying to goad its troops into combat for several weeks.
The fighting comes as the deployment is under way of a new 3,000-strong U.N. Intervention Brigade with a tough mandate to take the fight to armed groups in eastern Congo.
The force - which will be made up of troops from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi - has begun patrolling and is approaching full strength.