The mission, MONUSCO, said some 1 000 displaced people have been sheltered since Friday after they fled the town of Mweso, where Tutsi-led M23 rebels killed around 20 people since Thursday, according to the army and a civil society leader.

The attack was the latest fallout from fighting between Congolese troops and M23, whose offensives have forced tens of thousands to flee and worsened the region's decades-long security and humanitarian crisis.

MONUSCO Spokesperson Ndeye Khady Lo said the fighting was taking place near the mission's Nyanzale base. She said the peacekeepers would patrol to protect civilians.

Guillaume Kaiko Ndjike, the Congolese army's spokesperson in North Kivu, said M23 fighters had fired indiscriminately since Saturday morning. "We are in the process of containing them in order to protect the population," he said.

--Reuters--