Rwandan-backed rebels enter Congo’s Goma in major escalation | U.S. & World [Video]

By Arlette Bashizi, Djaffar Al-Katanty and Sonia Rolley

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -Rwandan-backed 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.

A rebel alliance led by the ethnic Tutsi-led M23 militia said it had seized the lakeside city of over 2 million people, a major hub for displaced people and aid groups lying on the border with Rwanda and last occupied by M23 in 2012.

The deep pounding of heavy artillery fire and rapid rat-a-tat of gunshots could be heard in a video of Goma airport, posted on social media and verified by Reuters, that showed unidentified armed men running on airport grounds.

“We can still hear gunfire coming from the airport. A rocket landed close to the church, behind our house,” said one resident, speaking from Goma’s northeast …