Nearly 3,000 people were killed over the last week as rebels captured a key city in one of the deadliest battles in the Central African country in decades.

Rebels in eastern Congo's largest city, Goma, began a ceasefire on Tuesday and people rushed to bury some 2,000 victims of last week's battles for the city as they feared the spread of disease.

Over 2,000 bodies bow require burial in Goma after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels took over the Democratic of Congo city, inflaming a decade-old conflict and humanitarian crisis. Congo’s communications minister Patrick Muyaya on Tuesday confirmed the mass burial,

Hundreds of female prisoners were raped and burned alive during a jailbreak in the Congolese city of Goma. On January 27, hundreds of prisoners broke out of Munzenze prison, after the M23 rebel group began to take over the city.

The Rwanda-backed group known as M23 is believed to have been responsible for the incident following its takeover of the city of Goma