A week after Congolese forces launched an offensive in the troubled eastern province of Nord-Kivu, rebels were gaining back ground.
Loyalists of renegade ex-general Laurent Nkunda said they had retaken several positions, including Mushake and Karuba, strategic villages west of the provincial capital Goma only recently under government control.
"We have just retaken Karuba this afternoon. We have seized arms and munitions. We are also holding Mushake," rebel spokesman Seraphin Mirindi told AFP.
A spokeswoman for the UN mission in DR Congo (MONUC), Sylvie van den Wildenberg, confirmed the rebels had taken Mushake, which the army had only gained control of five days previously.
"We also have had information of an attack by Nkunda troops on Karuba," a village the army had taken from the rebels in October, she told AFP.
Army commanders could not be reached for comment.
The rebel advances mark a reversal for the army that appeared to be consolidating its positions in Nord-Kivu just a few hours before the rebel counter-attack, UN and army sources said.
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