LAGOS, June 1, 2008 (AFP) - International human rights group Amnesty International on Sunday accused the Nigerian police and security agents of carrying out extra-judicial killings of hundreds of civilians last year.

'Members of the police and security forces extra-judicially executed hundreds of civilians in 2007,' the international watchdog said in its state of the world human rights report 2008 released here.

'These included killings by police during routine road checks or for refusing to pay a bribe, shootings of suspected armed robbers on arrest and extra-judicial executions of detainees in police stations,' it said.

Amnesty said the police even confirmed the killings.

'The acting IGP (Inspector General of Police) stated that in the first 100 days he was in office, 1,628 armed robbers were arrested and 785 were killed by the police,' it added.

The group said the military was also involved in the killing of civilians, especially in the country's volatile oil-producing Niger Delta.

It said the military Joint Task Force protecting oil firms and facilities in the region carried out severe human rights violations with the knowledge and cover-up of the government.

Amnesty said over 200 people, including journalists, were also killed during and after the April 2007 elections in Nigeria.

It said there were countless cases of harassment of human rights defenders, journalists, abuse of women, rape and intimidation of political opponents.

'In the run-up to the April 2007 elctions, violence in the delta increased as politicians used armed gangs to attack their opponents,' it said.

'After the elections, the violence rather than decreasing, increased yet further,' it added.