Friday, November 23, 2012

AP PHOTOS: M23 rebels battle Congolese soldiers

Congolese women run after Congolese soldiers and rebel fighters battled for hours over the eastern Congolese town of Sake , 27 kilometers (17 miles) west of Goma, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. The woman in orange only identified as Mamou, said she lost her husband to a fatal wound to the head from incoming mortar round. Thousands fled the M23 controlled town as the militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Congolese women run after Congolese soldiers and rebel fighters battled for hours over the eastern Congolese town of Sake , 27 kilometers (17 miles) west of Goma, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. The woman in orange only identified as Mamou, said she lost her husband to a fatal wound to the head from incoming mortar round. Thousands fled the M23 controlled town as the militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Congolese policemen gather at the Mugunga police training center near the eastern Congolese town of Goma, Friday Nov. 23 2012. The officers were called by M23 rebel officials to receive an ideological briefing. Platoons of rebels were making their way across the hills from Sake to the next major town of Minova, where the Congolese army was believed to be regrouping. The militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Congolese policemen gather at the Mugunga police training center near the eastern Congolese town of Goma, Friday Nov. 23 2012. The officers were called by M23 rebel officials to receive an ideological briefing. Platoons of rebels were making their way across the hills from Sake to the next major town of Minova, where the Congolese army was believed to be regrouping. The militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A Congolese rebel soldier walks past the corpse of a Mai Mai fighter in the eastern Congolese town of Sake, 27 kilometer (18 miles) west of Goma, Friday, Nov. 23 2012. Thousands fled the M23 controlled town as platoons of rebels were making their way across the hills from Sake to the next major town of Minova, where the Congolese army was believed to be regrouping.the militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Congolese rebels walk in the eastern Congolese town of Sake , 27kms west of Goma, Friday Nov. 23 2012. Thousands fled the M23 controlled town as platoons of rebels were making their way across the hills from Sake to the next major town of Minova, where the Congolese army was believed to be regrouping. The militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

M23, the eight-month-old rebel group made up of soldiers who defected from the Congolese army, has pushed beyond Goma, the bustling regional capital of eastern Congo, which fell to the fighters earlier this week.

On Friday, the rebels patrolled the town of Sake, the next town on the road south from Goma. They manned checkpoints, drank vodka in local bars and let the corpses of Congolese soldiers rot in the streets. One of the soldier's bodies bore an execution-style bullet wound to the temple.

AP photojournalist Jerome Delay is in the region covering the conflict, and has been witness to tens of thousands of civilians fleeing along a stretch of road to Goma, carrying mattresses and cooking pots on their heads, as well as live chickens, goats, and babies bundled on their backs. The town of Sake was nearly deserted. A lone father returned to his empty house. He had fled on Thursday when the shooting erupted, but lost track of his four children in the scramble to get out of town. The youngest are just 2 and 4 years old, he said.

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Follow Delay on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeromedelay

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-11-23-Congo-Fighting-Photo-Gallery/id-45bf4e19ed7b485395482afa1f3945e3

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