The Tutsi-dominated rebel group lay dormant for years before resuming fighting in late 2021. It has since taken control of parts of Kivu province in northern Congo.
Military officials and residents said on Sunday that the M23 had taken control of the village of Ntamugenga in North Kivu. It is strategically important as it is close to the highway north of the provincial capital Goma.
The resurgence of the group has caused unrest in central Africa. Congo accuses neighboring Rwanda of supporting the rebel group. The UN wrote in a unpublished report from earlier this year which was read by the AP and AFP news agencies, that there is strong evidence that votes.
The army says three civilians were killed and 35 injured in fighting around Ntamugenga over the weekend, while another was killed and five injured in clashes further north. On Sunday, the military said the situation was under control “on all fronts”.
Doctors Without Borders tweeted that 500 people had taken refuge in a convent in Ntamugenga, some of them injured, and called for the establishment of a humanitarian evacuation corridor.
The organization’s emergency coordinator for the area told AFP she was “very concerned” about the humanitarian situation in Ntamugenga, and that bombs had been hitting the village all day.
The true toll of this weekend’s clashes is unclear. At least 23,000 people have fled the area since Thursday, according to the United Nations Office for Emergency Relief (OCHA).
