Kabul - (AFP) - The United Nations on Wednesday accused the Taliban of committing hundreds of human rights violations in Afghanistan since they seized power last year, including summary executions and torture.

"There is no doubt that the findings of our report are very serious," said Acting Head of the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, Marcus Potzel, at a press conference in Kabul.

The Taliban have always denied accusations of human rights abuses since their overthrow of the previous Western-backed government, but the report of the United Nations mission, which was published on Wednesday, listed many violations.

The report documents 160 accusations of extrajudicial killings, 56 cases of torture and ill-treatment, and more than 170 arbitrary arrests or detentions of former government officials and members of the national security forces since August.

Among the most frequently used methods of torture are kicking, punching, slapping, beating with cables and pipes, and the use of electric shock devices.

The report also documented more than 200 cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments, including beatings of shopkeepers for not going to mosques, and more than 100 cases of excessive use of force.

Since the end of the war in Afghanistan, the security situation in the country has improved significantly, with a significant decrease in civilian casualties.

The Taliban asserts that it has the support of a large majority of the people. But she returned to applying Sharia law strictly, as she did during her first assumption of power between 1996 and 2001, which led to a significant restriction of women's rights.

The UN report documented 87 cases of violence against women and girls, including murder, rape, suicide, forced and child marriage, beatings, assaults and two honor crimes, noting that none of these cases were officially registered with the judiciary.

Among the cases monitored in the report, a man and a woman were stoned to death on charges of having sexual relations.

"Impunity is rampant" in Afghanistan, said Fiona Fraser, head of the UN Human Rights Mission in Afghanistan, and acknowledged that abuses may be more than reported.

She added that the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan is "particularly concerned" about the involvement of the Taliban religious police and intelligence services in abuses.

The UN mission said that 700 civilians were killed and at least 1,400 wounded in attacks attributed mostly to the local branch of the Islamic State, and due to unexploded mines.

Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the report's findings.

"No arbitrary killings or arrests are allowed in the country. Whoever is arbitrarily killed or arrested is considered a criminal and faces Sharia law," he wrote in a tweet.