WASHINGTON, March 10, (Agencies): A US woman operating online under the name “JihadJane” recruited jihadist fighters in the United States, Europe and Asia in a bid to carry out terror plots “or die trying,” prosecutors said Tuesday.
US authorities said middle-aged Pennsylvania resident Colleen LaRose, who was arrested in October 2009, spent more than a year networking with would-be attackers around the world.
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,” an indictment charged.
The Justice Department unsealed the indictment against LaRose just hours after Irish police arrested seven people accused of plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist.
LaRose faces charges of “conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft,” the indictment said.
With blond hair and green eyes, the 46-year-old LaRose allegedly bragged in one email that she could go anywhere undetected, saying it was “an honour & great pleasure to die or kill for” jihad.
Born in 1963, La Rose is also 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, LaRose could face life in prison and a one million dollar fine.
The indictment claims she received 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,” LaRose allegedly responded.
The Justice Department declined to comment on whether LaRose was connected to the arrest of four men and three women in Ireland over an alleged plot to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks.
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, bcomming Muslim is what i am the proudest of.”
Elsewhere, the user lists her heroes as “Sheikh OBL,” an apparent reference to Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, and “The brothers in... Jihad.”
The indictment and material released by SITE, a US group that monitors extremists, suggest LaRose had an active online presence, despite being repeatedly banned from websites including YouTube and harboring fears she was under surveillance.
The LaRose case “demonstrates that terrorists are looking for Americans to join them in their cause, and it shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance,” said US Justice Department attorney Michael Levy in a statement.
David Kris, assistant attorney general at the Justice Department’s National Security Division, hailed the indictment and said the government would remain vigilant.
“Today’s indictment, which alleges that a woman from suburban America agreed to carry out murder overseas and to provide material support to terrorists, underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face,” he said.

Boyfriend
Her boyfriend of five years said LaRose had never hinted at Muslim leanings or attended religious services of any kind. Kurt Gorman, 47, of Pennsburg, said that he met LaRose in Texas and that nothing seemed amiss until she moved out of their apartment without warning in August.
“I came home and she was gone. It doesn’t make any sense,” he said Wednesday outside his small business in nearby Quakertown. “She was a good-hearted person.”
LaRose is “one of only a few such cases nationwide in which females have been charged with terrorism violations,” said U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd.
Authorities said the case shows how terrorist groups are looking to recruit Americans to carry out their goals.
“Today’s indictment, which alleges that a woman from suburban America agreed to carry out murder overseas and to provide material support to terrorists, underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face,” said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security.
LaRose had targeted Vilks and had online discussions about her plans with at least one of several suspects apprehended over that plot Tuesday in Ireland, according to the U.S. official.
Irish police said Wednesday those arrested were two Algerians, two Libyans, a Palestinian, a Croatian and an American woman married to one of the Algerian suspects. They were not identified by name.
LaRose indicated in her online conversations that she thought her blond hair and blue eyes would help her move freely in Sweden to carry out the attack, the indictment said.
LaRose as a convert to Islam who actively recruited others, including at least one unidentified American, and her online messages expressed her willingness to become a martyr and her impatience to take action, according to the indictment and the U.S. official.

“I’m glad she didn’t kill me,” Vilks told The Associated Press on Wednesday, saying the suspects appeared to be “low-tech.” He said he has built defense systems in his home to thwart would-be terrorists, including a safe room and electrified barbed wire.
U.S. Attorney Michael Levy said the indictment doesn’t link LaRose to any organized terror groups.
In recent years, the only other women charged in the U.S. with terror violations were lawyer Lynne Stewart, convicted of helping imprisoned blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman communicate with his followers, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist found guilty of shooting at U.S. personnel in Afghanistan while yelling, “Death to Americans!”
But neither case involved the kind of plotting attributed to LaRose — a woman charged with trying to foment a terror conspiracy to kill someone overseas.
Stewart has insisted she is “not a traitor,” while Siddiqui has accused U.S. authorities of lying about her.