By Abdoulaye Massalatchi

NIAMEY, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Niger's government on Friday dismissed as lies accusations by rights groups that its army has carried out illegal executions, rape and revenge attacks as it battles nomadic Tuareg rebels deep in the Sahara.

"The reports by Amnesty (International) and Human Rights Watch are tendentious and untruthful," Communications Minister and government spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar said.

"This is all false; these reports reflect nothing of the reality on the ground," he told Reuters.

The two organisations issued separate reports this week accusing Niger's army of illegally executing civilians in the country's uranium-rich north, where rebels have killed at least 49 soldiers since launching their uprising in February.

The rebel Niger Justice Movement (MNJ), led by light-skinned Tuareg tribesmen, says it is fighting for more autonomy and a greater share in the region's mineral riches.

The government in the southern capital Niamey refuses to recognise the movement, dismissing its members as bandits and smugglers. It has declared a state of alert in the north and forbidden foreign journalists to travel there. Two French TV reporters were jailed this week for defying the ban.

"Human Rights Watch says they carried out their research in Niamey. We haven't seen them, and so how is that seeking the truth?" Ben Omar asked.

"People go to the armed bandits and accept what they say at face value, with the sole aim of tarnishing the image of our country, and stoking hatred between communities," Ben Omar said.

Human Rights Watch described violations of the laws of war by soldiers, including extrajudicial killing, rape and the destruction of livestock owned by Tuareg herders, in apparent revenge attacks.

It said, however, the rebels' use of landmines also violated the laws of war prohibiting weapons that cannot distinguish between military and civilian targets. Several civilians have been killed by landmines in recent months.

Amnesty questioned the government's account that its troops killed seven civilians "by accident" on Dec. 9 after they strayed onto the scene of a firefight earlier in the day between army and MNJ fighters in the desert region of Tiguidit.

"The people who identified the bodies said that they saw numerous signs of cigarette burns and whipping on the victims' bodies, as well as many bullet wounds to the face and chest," Amnesty said in its report.

The state of alert gives government troops extensive powers in the north, and has reduced media reporting and other independent information from the area to a trickle.

Two reporters from Niger, including one for French state-backed Radio France International, have been in detention for weeks, accused of links with the rebels. (Writing by Alistair Thomson; editing by Daniel Flynn and Andrew Roche)

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