Fighting between troops and rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least 130 people including 10 soldiers

Fighting between troops and rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least 130 people including 10 soldiers, the government said Monday.
 
"Our forces have inflicted very heavy losses on the M23 fighters, 120 have been killed and 12 captured," government spokesman Lambert Mende said. Mende said 10 soldiers had also died in the ongoing clashes between the army and rebels of the M23 group.
  
The fighting broke out Sunday outside Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the volatile east -- an area rich in minerals including gold and coltan, a key component in cell phones and other electronic equipment. Several Congolese army tanks fired at M23 positions Monday.
  
Mende said they had attacked army positions supported by Rwandan troops. "For several weeks the M23 rebels and their Rwandan allies have been reinforcing their positions," he said.
  
The M23, an armed group launched by Tutsi former soldiers who mutinied from the Congolese army in April 2012, blamed the government for the fighting. In a statement it condemned "in the strongest terms the resumption of war initiated by the Congolese government".