Rwandan-backed rebels who have swept through eastern Congo this week met resistance from the army and its allies including Burundian troops as they tried to push south on Friday, a Congolese official and another source said.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral body has accused the Rwandan army and M23 rebels of looting polling office facilities in Goma, a city in eastern Congo.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed on Monday they captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped.