Heavy artillery fire could be heard in Goma on Monday, hours after Rwandan troops and fighters from the M23 rebel group entered the capital of North Kivu Province. The UN has warned of a looming crisis.

In Goma itself, there were outbreaks of looting after the rebel takeover, and hundreds of prisoners escaped from a jail after a fire broke out. Hundreds of residents fled from the city, some entering Rwanda to seek shelter.

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.

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.

Congo has severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda as fighting between Rwanda-backed rebels and government forces rages around the key eastern city of Goma.

M23 rebels marched into east Congo's largest city Goma on Monday and Congolese troops exchanged fire with the Rwandan military across the border, in the worst escalation of a long-running conflict for more than a decade.

Residents of eastern Congo's largest city of Goma greeted the arrival of Rwanda-backed rebels with trepidation on Monday, some staying indoors and others coming out to cheer in what one called a "show" of happiness.

Thousands fled the city of Goma on Monday as fighting raged between Congolese forces and rebels backed by neighboring Rwanda, who claimed to have captured eastern Congo’s largest regional hub. Pockets of chaos and gunfire had some people hunkering down as the rebels marched into the city with a population of about 2 million.

Internally displaced civilians from the camps in Munigi and Kibati, carry their belongings as they flee following the fight between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC),