More than 150 female prisoners were raped and burned to death during a jailbreak last week when fleeing male inmates set fire to a prison in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a United Nations spokesperson has said.

More than 100 female inmates of an African prison were raped and burned alive during a jailbreak, the United Nations said. The incident occurred in the Congolese city of Goma after M23 rebels captured the urban centre in a lightning raid last week.