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.

Rwandan-backed rebels marched into the centre of east Congo's largest city on Monday, witnesses said, in the latest escalation of decades of conflict in a region already suffering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Fleeing prisoners streamed from the torched jail as Rwanda-backed rebels claim they have captured the strategic city