‘Jihad Jane’ linked to Irish arrest of Muslim plotters

A suburban American housewife who dubbed herself 'Jihad Jane' has been charged with plotting terrorist acts in Europe on the orders of Islamic extremists she met on the internet.

Colleen LaRose, from Philadelphia, is thought to have planned the death of Lars Vilks, a Swedish cartoonist who drew the Muslim Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog in 2007.

LaRose was arrested last October, but details were not made public while Irish police kept her alleged co-conspirators under surveillance.

The US Department of Justice would not confirm that LaRose's case was related to the arrests made yesterday in Ireland over the Lars Vilks plot - but one official did say she had talked online with at least one of the seven, who are all Muslim immigrants to the Republic.

The 47-year-old posted a video of herself on YouTube in which she says she is "desperate to do something somehow to help" Muslims around the world. Prosecutors say she travelled to Sweden to plot the murder, but was caught by the authorities before she could carry out her plan.

With her blonde hair and blue eyes, LaRose felt she could "blend in with many people" - and her looks prompted a US National Security Department spokesman to say the case "shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance".

US prosecutors who have charged her say she had agreed to obtain residency in Europe and marry one of the terrorists she was in contact with so that he could join her there. They also claim she stole a US passport in order to "facilitate an act of international terrorism".

If she is found guilty, LaRose could face a life sentence and a $1m fine. Prosecutors say that her five co-conspirators recruited men online "to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad". ·