Police in Zimbabwe have confirmed the arrest of 39 election monitors for allegedly trying to disrupt the voting process.

Officers carried out a series of raids across the capital, Harare, including at a hotel and at offices of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network and the Elections Support Centre.

The civil society groups were co-ordinating an independent count of election results.

The police spokesman Paul Nyathi told state TV that computers and phones had been seized.

Earlier lawyers said they had received disturbing distress calls from those being detained.

They said they initially did not know where the police had taken their clients and that they were being denied access to them.

Opposition parties have disputed past election results.