At least 773 people were killed in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s largest city of Goma and its vicinity this week amid fighting with Rwanda-backed rebels who captured the city in a major escalation of a decade-long conflict, Congolese authorities have said.

The rebels’ advance into other areas was slowed by a weakened military that recovered some villages from them.

There were 773 bodies and 2,880 injured people in Goma’s morgues and hospitals, the Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya told a briefing in the capital, Kinshasa, on Saturday, adding that the death toll could be higher.