The former head of Argentina's military junta, General Leopoldo Galtieri, has been arrested on kidnapping charges.

Judge Claudio Bonadio ordered his arrest and that of other officials of the former regime on Wednesday.

General Galtieri is accused of involvement in the abduction, torture and death in 1980 of 20 members of a leftist guerrilla movement opposed to the regime.

He led the junta from 1981 to 1982.

The 1976-83 military regime is blamed for the disappearance of between 11,000 and 30,000 people during what has become known as the "dirty war" against political opponents.

General Galtieri was de facto president of the country during the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982 and subsequent war with Britain.

No amnesty

General Galtieri is currently being held in an army barracks outside the capital Buenos Aires.

Reports say he could be taken to testify before a judge later on Thursday.

The BBC's Peter Greste says that it had been assumed until now that all those involved in human rights abuses under the regime were safe from prosecution.

Judge Bonadio ordered the arrests on the basis of a ruling last November that amnesty laws protecting military officers suspected of human rights abuses were unconstitutional.

Baby theft

Twenty-nine other military officers and 11 police agents are also facing arrest.

Former generals Carlos Suarez Mason and Cristino Nicolaides, along with former secret police chief Raimundo Ojeda, are among them.

Other leaders of the regime, including de facto presidents Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, are already in custody in a separate investigation into thefts of babies born to detained women.

Crimes against children are not covered by the amnesty.