Strewn with rubble from mortar and artillery fire, the eastern DR Congo city of Goma awoke on Thursday to a new abnormal -- hiding from bandits and counting the dead.

Fighting has all but ceased between Congolese soldiers and the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group, which captured most of Goma on Sunday -- a dramatic escalation in a mineral-rich region of the Democratic Republic of Congo that has seen decades of conflict involving multiple armed groups.

Under the watchful gaze of M23 patrols, traffic returned on Thursday to the centre of the city, capital of North Kivu province.

Pedestrians walked round bodies left from days of fierce combat that drove the Congolese army out of the city.

Goma's alleys, already strewn with rubble from the mortar and artillery fire, were now also littered with debris left behind by vandals taking advantage of the chaos.

"There's nothing left to eat. Everything has been pillaged," fretted Bosco. "We need urgent help."

Like other locals who spoke to AFP, he was reluctant to give his last name.

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