Nearly three thousand people have been killed in the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the United Nations, after the provincial capital was captured by rebels following days of fierce fighting with the Congolese army.

The rebels, who captured the region's largest city of Goma, issued a 72-hour ultimatum for displaced people to return to their villages. View on euronews

The Rwandan-backed M23 group on Friday advanced south after seizing the biggest city in mineral-rich eastern DR Congo, in violence that according to the United Nations has killed at least 700 people in less than a week.