Police in Austria say they have arrested a leading member of the radical Palestinian group led by Abu Nidal.

They said the woman -- named as Naima Halima -- was arrested on Thursday but gave no further details.

One unconfirmed report said she had been in charge of finances for Abu Nidal and was arrested while trying to withdraw about eighty-million dollars at a bank in the capital, Vienna.

Abu Nidal's group, the Fatah Revolutionary Council, has been blamed for the death or injury of nine-hundred people in twenty countries since 1973.

The American State Department has described it as the most dangerous terrorist group in existence.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service