A Malaysian man who murdered an eight-year-old Chinese girl was hanged here Friday after losing his appeal, Singapore's prisons department said.

"Took Leng How was sentenced to death under Section 302 of the Penal Code (Chapter 224)," the prisons department said in an e-mail to AFP .

"The sentence was carried out this morning at Changi prison," it said.

Took, who was working here as a vegetable packer, was convicted of strangling Huang Na with his bare hands in October 2004, in a case that gripped the city-state which has a very low crime rate.

He then wrapped her body in plastic bags in a store room and stuffed it into a cardboard box sealed with adhesive tape.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International criticised Took's execution. It has said the wealthy city-state is believed to have the highest rate of executions in the world per capita.

"It is extremely shocking news that Singapore has gone ahead with another execution," said Tim Goodwin, Amnesty's Asia Pacific anti-death penalty coordinator.

"It's a cold and harsh system. It's a system set out to kill people, a death penalty that's what it is," he told AFP from Australia.

According to news reports, Took had coaxed the victim into the store room for a game of hide and seek, before accidentally knocking her head against some boxes, panicking and then strangling her.

Her disappearance sparked a massive search by police and volunteers. After briefly fleeing to Malaysia, Took eventually gave himself up and led officers to the girl's remains.

Mandatory death sentence

Took, 24, was found guilty in August last year of murder, a crime that carries the mandatory death penalty in Singapore.

He sought presidential clemency after the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against the conviction, but President SR Nathan rejected the plea.

Singapore carries out the death penalty by hanging and maintains that capital punishment is an effective crime deterrent despite criticism from international human rights groups.

Death row convicts are hanged at dawn on Fridays.

Since Singapore's independence in 1965, the president has granted clemency only six times.

Singapore's Home Affairs Ministry said in response to AFP queries last year that eight Singaporeans and foreigners were executed in 2004 and 19 in 2003.

Amnesty International says at least five people, including Took, have been hanged in 2006. In 2005, eight convicts were executed, the human rights group said on its website.