A US woman operating online under the name "JihadJane" has been indicted for recruiting jihadist fighters in the United States, Europe and Asia in a bid to carry out terror plots.
Pennsylvania resident Colleen R. LaRose, 46, faces charges of "conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists," among other charges, the indictment unsealed Tuesday said. She sought to recruit men and women, to raise money and even agreed to carry out the murder of a Swedish resident, pledging "only death will stop me," the indictment charged.
The Justice Department unsealed the indictment against Ms LaRose just hours after Irish police arrested seven people accused of plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist.
Arrested in October 2009, she spent more than a year networking with would-be attackers around the world.
With blonde hair and green eyes, the 46-year-old Ms LaRose allegedly bragged in one e-mail that she could go anywhere undetected, writing that it was "an honour & great pleasure to die or kill for" jihad.
Born in 1963, Ms LaRose lived in Texas before moving to a community outside the northeast US city of Philadelphia.
Divorced, Ms LaRose had no known occupation, authorities said.
But she now also stands accused of recruiting women "who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad," and of having stolen a US passport "and transferred or attempted to transfer it in an effort to facilitate an act of international terrorism."
If convicted of the charges against her, Ms LaRose could face life in prison and a one million dollar fine.
The indictment claims she re-ceived two messages in March 2009 from an individual in a South Asian country instructing her to kill an unnamed Swedish resident.
"Kill him... this is what i say to u," the indictment quotes one message as saying. "Kill (the individual) in a way that the whole Kufar (non-believer) world get frightened," the second said.
"I will make this my goal till i achieve it or die trying," Ms LaRose allegedly responded.
The Justice Department declined to comment on whether Ms LaRose was connected to the arrest of four men and three women in Ireland over an alleged plot to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks.
An Al-Qaeda-linked group has placed a $100,000 (€74,000) bounty on his head in response to a cartoon he drew depicting the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.
Ms LaRose also was identified by the monikers "Fatima LaRose" and "JihadJane." A MySpace page under the name "JihadJane" features a biography of a Pennsylvania woman who describes herself as having "reverted to Islam."
"I live in Pennsylvania, originally from Texas. I have recently (a couple months) reverted to Islam and I can safely say that of all the things I have ever done in my lifetime, becoming Muslim is what i am the proudest of."
Elsewhere, the user lists her heroes as "Skeikh OBL," an apparent reference to Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, and "The brothers in... Jihad."