KALIMA, Congo (CNN) -- Congo rebels said Monday they had captured the eastern strategic town of Kindu after more than a week of heavy fighting with government troops.

A rebel commander said 9,000 rebel fighters, aided by neighboring Rwandan soldiers, entered the government-held air base late Monday.

"Kindu has just fallen," Cmdr. Bob Ngoy told reporters in Goma.

The rebel claim could not be independently confirmed. If true, Kindu would be the biggest prize in the rebels' two-month campaign to topple President Laurent Kabila.

Kabila had used Kindu as a launching point for a counter-offensive against rebel strongholds further east. The rebels say its capture will prevent the government from launching any more bombing raids from the air base.

Kindu is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Kalima, a rear base for the rebel attack.

The city's fall would clear the way for rebel troops to advance into the neighboring, diamond-rich province of Eastern Kasai and Kabila's southern stronghold in Lubumbashi.

Rebel battalion commander Arthur Mulunda said his men had captured many government prisoners. Ngoy said 1,377 government troops had surrendered on Monday and that 17 rebel fighters had been killed in earlier fighting.

The rebels last weekend shot down a Congolese Airlines jet near Kindu. It's not yet clear whether the 40 people aboard the aircraft were civilians -- as the government claims -- or soldiers as the rebels maintained.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.