Authorities confirmed 773 bodies and 2,880 injured persons in Goma's morgues and hospitals, Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya told a briefing in the capital, Kinshasa, adding that the death toll could be higher.

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.

The U.N. health agency says that fighting last week between Congolese government forces and Rwanda-backed rebels in the major eastern city of Goma left at least 900 people dead, raising the previously cited death toll of 773.