Seven held in Ireland over Swedish cartoonist plot: police

Irish police on Tuesday arrested seven Muslims suspected of conspiracy to murder over a reported plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who drew the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog, they said.

The four men and three women were arrested in the southern Irish towns of Cork and Waterford following an international operation.

A police source confirmed press reports that they were Muslims arrested over an alleged plot to assassinate Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has a $US100,000 ($11,000) bounty on his head from an al-Qaeda-linked group.

"The operation ... is part of an investigation into a conspiracy to commit a serious offence (namely, conspiracy to murder an individual in another jurisdiction)," said a statement from Ireland's national police service.

It added that the operation involved law enforcement agencies in the United States and a number of European countries.

Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published a cartoon on August 18, 2007 depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of expression and religion.

The cartoon prompted protests by Muslims in the western town of Oerebro, where the newspaper is based, and death threats for Vilks.

An al-Qaeda front organisation offered $US150,000 to anyone who slit his throat or $US100,000 for his murder by other means, while they also offered $US50,000 to kill newspaper editor-in-chief Ulf Johansson.

The seven arrested range in age from mid 20s to late 40s, police said.

A series of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published in Denmark's biggest daily led to riots in several Muslim countries in early 2006. A strict interpretation of Islam forbids the depiction of Mohammed in any form.

AFP