Washington, March 11: The case of “Jihad Jane” – the middle-aged woman from suburban Philadelphia linked to an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist held to have insulted the prophet Mohamed – represents the worst nightmare of US security authorities: a white, female, all-American terrorist.
Yesterday more details became available of 46-year-old Colleen LaRose, accused by federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania of conspiring on the internet with overseas-based militants to murder the cartoonist Lars Vilks, proclaiming herself ready to help Muslims and if necessary to become a martyr for the cause of radical Islam.
The picture that emerges is of a woman who spent much of her time alone at home on the computer. But although she seemed slightly odd to some of her neighbours and had few friends in the area, her boyfriend yesterday said that she never gave any clue of pro-Muslim sympathies, and never attended religious services before she abruptly moved out of his flat in August 2009.
–Agencies