'Jihad Jane' and 7 others held in plot to kill Swedish cartoonist

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Authorities unsealed charges in the US against a woman dubbed "Jihad Jane" and arrested seven Muslims in Ireland Tuesday for their alleged involvement in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist.

The allegations highlight the ongoing sensitivity of cartoon renderings of the prophet Mohammad, and are a rare example of a white American woman becoming involved in global jihad over the Internet.

The indictment against "Jihad Jane" was unsealed in Pennsylvania Tuesday; the seven arrested in Ireland were being questioned Wednesday.

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Ireland's RTE News reported that four men and three women whose nationalities were not given were arrested in Waterford and Cork, Ireland.

Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks ignited controversy in 2007 with his cartoon of the head of the prophet Mohammad on the body of a dog, as the Monitor reported. (See one of the drawings here.) Later that year, an Al Qaeda faction leader put a $100,000 bounty on Mr. Vilks's head.

Vilks has been under police protection ever since. In an article Wednesday, the Irish Times called him "an artist who courts controversy with the same ease as the rest of us draw breath," and reported his defiant response to news of the alleged murder plot targeting him: “The barks of those roundabout dogs will never fall silent,” he said.

The New York Times reports that Colleen R. LaRose – a blonde, green-eyed American from the suburbs of Philadelphia who called herself Jihad Jane on an Internet posting – stands accused of linking up with militants over the Internet to plot terrorist acts. The Times quoted a law-enforcement official who said the charges against Ms. LaRose were linked to the arrest of the seven Muslims in Ireland.

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