'Jihad Jane’ charged with online terror recruiting

March 9: A woman from suburban Philadelphia has been indicted for using the internet to recruit fighters to support terrorists overseas.


A Pennsylvania woman has been charged with joining a group overseas that sources said planned to kill a Swedish cartoonist whose drawings of the Prophet Muhammed provoked worldwide outrage.

A federal indictment unveiled Tuesday alleges that Colleen LaRose, 46, of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, called herself "Jihad Jane" and was also known as Fatima Larose. It says she agreed to kill a Swede on orders from unnamed terrorists and traveled to Europe to carry out the killing.

Federal sources told NBC News that the case is related to a group of people arrested in Ireland earlier Tuesday on suspicion of plotting against Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.


LaRose was charged with four counts, including conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official, and attempted identity theft.

LaRose, a convert to Islam who has blond hair and blue eyes, indicated in her online conversations that she thought her appearance would help her move freely in Sweden to carry out the attack, the indictment said.

‘Desperate to do something to help’
The case "demonstrates that terrorists are looking for Americans to join them in their cause, and it shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance," U.S. Attorney Michael Levy said.

Investigators say that in June 2008, LaRose posted a comment on YouTube saying she was "desperate to do something to help" suffering Muslims. Six months later, LaRose received a response from someone who offered to join her and to become a martyr, FBI officials said.

In a February 2009 online message to a co-conspirator in south Asia, she said her physical appearance would allow her to "blend in with many people," which "may be a way to achieve what is in my heart," the indictment said.

LaRose actively recruited others to terrorism, including at least one unidentified American, and her online messages expressed willingness to become a martyr and impatience to take action, according to the indictment and a U.S. official.

[b]"I will make this (killing the artist) my goal till I achieve it or die trying," she wrote another south Asian suspect in March 2009, according to the indictment.[/b]

Investigators say that after corresponding with others overseas, LaRose moved to Sweden in August and joined a group that was plotting to kill Vilks. Al-Qaida put a $100,000 bounty on Vilks' head after a newspaper in August 2007 published his cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

Was considered an asset
Prosecutors said LaRose's overseas terrorist contacts considered her an asset because of her western appearance, which allowed her to blend in while in European countries.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35783549/ns/us_news-security