Pa. woman charged with terror conspiracy

PHILADELPHIA, March 9 (UPI) -- A Philadelphia-area woman allegedly known as Jihad Jane was charged Tuesday with conspiring to recruit terrorists and other women to provide support services.

Colleen R. LaRose faces a life sentence if she is convicted of the most serious charges, federal prosecutors in Philadelphia said. The charges include conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and to kill in a foreign country.

U.S. Attorney Michael Levy released little information about LaRose, saying only that she was born in 1963 and lives in Montgomery County. Levy said LaRose was also known as Fatima LaRose and as Jihad Jane.

LaRose was arrested in October at Philadelphia International Airport as she arrived from Europe, officials told The Philadelphia Inquirer. The FBI began investigating her because of Internet postings on jihad.

The indictment said LaRose conspired with five unindicted and unidentified men to use the Internet to find and recruit men willing to carry out terrorist acts in South Asia and Europe. They also allegedly sought women who had passports and would be able to travel to help the fighters.

LaRose agreed to carry out a killing in Sweden, prosecutors said. Her alleged target was Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who angered Muslims with a drawing, done for an exhibit on free expression, that showed the Prophet Mohammed as a dog, the Inquirer said.

After moving to Pennsylvania from Texas in 2004, LaRose lived in a small apartment building in Pennsburg, a quiet town of fewer than 3,000 people northwest of Philadelphia.