7 Arrested in Plot to Kill Cartoonist

Four Muslim men and three Muslim women were arrested in Ireland on Tuesday for plotting to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist who drew the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog. Al Qaeda had put a $100,000 bounty on the head of the cartoonist, Lars Vilks, with an additional $50,000 if he were “slaughtered like a lamb” by having his throat cut and another $50,000 for killing the editor of the paper that printed the cartoon. The arrested are not believed to be members of al Qaeda; some are Irish citizens and some are converts to Islam. The investigation into his would-be assassins involved both the CIA and the FBI. Vilks lives with police protection in an isolated area of Sweden.