The U.N.'s top human rights body was holding an urgent session on Friday on spiralling violence in eastern Congo, where Rwanda-backed rebels recently captured a key city and some 3,000 people have been killed and nearly as many injured since late January.

The UN Human Rights Council is considering whether to launch an investigation into alleged abuses committed in eastern Congo on Kinshasa's request. Rwanda alleged it was responding to an "imminent" threat from Congo.

The special session of the Human Rights Council was called by the Democratic Republic of Congo with the support of dozens of countries. The government in Kinshasa urged the 47-mem

Worse violence "may be yet to come" in the conflict-hit Democratic Republic of Congo, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Friday. An offensive by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group against Congolese forces in and around the eastern city of Goma has left almost 3,