The green-eyed, blond woman living in a Philadelphia suburb fit the stereotypical profile of a “Main Street” American: Neighbours would see Colleen LaRose shopping, and stopped to say “hello”; at least one woman sent her kids to a Halloween party a couple of years ago that Ms. LaRose threw for neighbourhood children.

But those same neighbours, along with her former boyfriend, expressed shock Wednesday after U.S. prosecutors said Ms. LaRose, 46, from Pennsburg, Pa., faces terrorism charges in a plot that saw her use the online alias “Jihad Jane.”

A convert to Islam, Ms. LaRose is accused of working with overseas Islamic extremists via the Internet to recruit other men and women to wage and support “violent jihad.”

Prosecutors also believe she agreed to murder a Swedish cartoonist who had depicted the Prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body, and had taken steps to use the fact that she was a white American to get close to the artist, Lars Vilks, without raising suspicion.   »»» National Post (Canada)

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