LUOFU, Congo (AP) — Witnesses say Congolese soldiers are fighting militiamen deep in rebel-held territory.

The Mai Mai militiamen are normally pro-government appear to be taking advantage of the army’s retreat to steal soldiers’ weapons.

The soldiers are fleeing — along with thousands of civilians — from a steady rebel advance.

The fighting was happening early Tuesday around Kanyabayonga, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of the regional capital, Goma. The violence suggests ever-deepening fissures within Congo’s fractured army.

Clashes between fighters loyal to rebel leader Laurent Nkunda on one side and the army and its allied spear-wielding militias on the other exploded in August and has displaced at least 250,000 people.