BUENOS AIRES, Jan 12: A judge's arrest order for former President Isabel Peron has broadened the scope of investigations into Argentina's past human rights abuses, expanding beyond dictatorship-era crimes to the death squads that terrorised the nation prior to the 1976 military coup.

Federal Judge Raul Acosta late on Thursday ordered the arrest of the third wife of former political strongman Juan Domingo Peron, saying he has questions about her chaotic 20-month rule, a time when shadowy right-wing violence destabilised Argentina ahead of her political downfall.

The order caused a sensation in Argentina, with banner headlines in newspapers and old black-and-white newsreel footage of the former political strongman's wife.

In Madrid, Spanish police said they were awaiting an Interpol order to carry out an arrest warrant for the former Argentine leader.—AP