By Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY, April 3 (Reuters) - Niger's army has shot dead, tortured and abducted several civilians in recent weeks in a wave of retaliation for attacks by northern Tuareg rebels, Amnesty International said in a report on Thursday. The report, which was strongly denied by Niger's government, alleged that at least eight civilians were arbitrarily executed between March 22 and 25 during an offensive by government troops against the Tuareg-led Niger Justice Movement (MNJ). "We launch an urgent call to Niger's authorities to order the defence and security forces to end these extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances of civilians," said Veronique Aubert, deputy director of Amnesty's Africa programme. The London-based rights group said the army launched reprisals against the population of arid northern Niger after at least five soldiers were killed during the operations against rebel strongholds in the mountains of Agadez. The government dismisses the MNJ as smugglers and bandits. It said it killed 10 of them in its March offensive and lost five of its own troops. The MNJ has killed around 60 soldiers since it launched its revolt in February 2007 to demand greater independence for the uranium-rich region of Agadez from the black African government in Niamey. Northern Niger has been under a state of alert since August, handing security forces sweeping powers. Amnesty said soldiers forced civilians to drive ahead of their convoy on the Dabaga-El Meki road to explode mines on March 26. When a military vehicle hit a mine the civilian car had missed, soldiers beat its driver and two passengers and forced them to drive until their vehicle hit another mine. They were taken to hospital by the army, Amnesty said. It said soldiers shot dead 67-year-old farmer Hada Baregha on March 25 near Dabaga and trader Aboubakar Attoulele had his ears cut off and his head burned before being killed by troops. DENIAL "This is not the first time that Amnesty has blacklisted our army without any proof. We say that this is a lie, the latest in a long list," Communications Minister Mohamed Ben Omar said. "Our army acts with discretion, respecting the rules of international humanitarian law and the rules of the Republic." In December, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch issued separate reports accusing the army of extra-judicial killing of civilians. Niamey strongly denied the allegations. Military sources said the MNJ manipulates international opinion by pretending its dead fighters were innocent civilians. In Thursday's report, Amnesty also cited evidence of the "disappearance" of civilians by soldiers: four people including the chief of Tourayat village, Al Wali, were detained by soldiers on March 30 and their families have had no news since. "The government must open an inquiry, bring those responsible for these crimes to justice, and provide compensation to the families of the victims," Aubert said. Amnesty called for a halt to the use of landmines in the conflict, which have indiscriminately killed civilians. Both sides blame the other for planting these mines. The MNJ posted on its Web site http://m-n-j.blogspot.com/ a message it said was from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Sahara (FARS), a movement of light-skinned Toubou tribesmen which kidnapped two Italian tourists in 2006, pledging military support for the Tuareg group's struggle for autonomy. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Additional reporting and writing by Daniel Flynn; editing by Alistair Thomson)
