Heavy fighting erupted between government forces and M23 rebels on Tuesday morning in the eastern North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials and residents said.
“Intense fighting broke out at around 5 a.m. local time (0300GMT) in several areas in Masisi and Rutshuru, near Kitshanga town,” Georges Bushu Bishye, vice-president of the area’s local peace and development committee, told Anadolu.
“There was a lot of panic. Gunfire could still be heard after about three hours,” said Bishye.
Theogene Kahangu, a resident of Kitshanga, a town some 70 kilometers (45 miles) from North Kivu’s provincial capital Goma, said many people have been moving out of the area since the morning.