'JihadJane' pleads not guilty in terror case

A blonde American who dubbed herself "JihadJane" pleaded not guilty yesterday to recruiting Islamist militants in the latest home-grown terrorism case.

Pennsylvania resident Colleen LaRose, 46, smiled and appeared relaxed as she denied charges of conspiracy to support terrorists, recruiting militants and agreeing to murder a Swedish cartoonist who had offended some Muslims.

The federal court judge in Philadelphia ordered Ms LaRose, whose blonde hair was done up in dreadlocks and a pony tail, to be held without bail until her trial starts May 3. If found guilty she faces up to life in prison.

Ms LaRose's case is seen as indicating an alarming new development in which militants are drawn not from Muslim immigrant communities but from Americans born and raised in the US.

In Chicago, another US citizen, David Coleman Headley, pleaded guilty yesterday to scoping out targets in India for the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks and plotting to attack a Danish newspaper.