Swedish artist Lars Vilks is in the news again — and also in the crosshairs of the Great Jihad. Mr. Vilks, the creator of the notorious Modoggies, has been the object of death plots in the past, the most notorious of them hatched by the American mujahidette “Jihad Jane”.

Now the fatwas are flying again, and the Modoggie Man has just been targeted for death by al-Shabab, the local franchise of Al Qaeda in Somalia.

According to AsiaOne:

Somali Militia Issues Death Threat to Swedish Artist

WASHINGTON – A Swedish fighter with the Shebab, a Somalian militia with ties to Al-Qaeda, has urged Muslims to kill an artist from Sweden who depicted the Prophet Mohammed as a dog, US monitoring group SITE said Tuesday.

“Wherever you are, if not today or tomorrow, know that we haven’t yet forgotten about you,” said the Shebab member Abu Zaid in a video warning to artist Lars Vilks.

“We will get hold of you and with Allah’s permission we will catch you wherever you are and in whatever hole you are hiding in,” Zaid said in a recruitment video with English and Swahili subtitles that calls for Muslims to join the radical movement.

[…]

“Know what awaits you, as it will be nothing but this: slaughter! For that is what you deserve,” Zaid said in the video that SITE said was posted on jihadist Internet forums on Monday.

“To my brothers and sisters, I call you to make (migration), and if you can kill this dog called Lars (Vilks), then you will receive a great reward from Allah,” Zaid said, according to SITE.

Lars Vilks responded to the Somali fatwa with his customary phlegmatic calm. Rather than be alarmed by the news, he surmised that the jihadis will find the cold weather and snow in Sweden too much to tolerate, and will stay away.

Not only that, he described the latest video (embedded here below the jump) as more of a recruiting tool for al-Shabab than a real threat. The Somali jihad fighters are looking for more volunteers, and have identified the “Swedes” as likely candidates.

According to The Herald Sun:

Swedish Artist Says There ‘Too Much Snow’ For Amateur Terrorists to Kill Him

“I can feel pretty safe,” he said, adding, “Right now the weather is looking really good (for me). It’s too cold and there is too much snow for someone to try an amateur terrorist act.”

US monitoring group SITE said that a Swedish fighter with the Shebab militia, which has ties to al-Qaeda, urged Muslims to kill Vilks.

“Wherever you are, if not today or tomorrow, know that we haven’t yet forgotten about you,” said Shebab member Abu Zaid in a video.

“Know what awaits you, as it will be nothing but this: slaughter. For that is what you deserve.

“We will get hold of you and with Allah’s permission we will catch you wherever you are and in whatever hole you are hiding in,” Zaid said in a recruitment video with English and Swahili subtitles that calls for Muslims to join the radical movement.

Vilks dismissed the video as a desperate attempt for the organisation to recruit new members.

“That organisation has no resources to speak of. They are almost bankrupt,” he said.

“They send out that type of information to try to find volunteers that could interest them and to get attention. It’s something that can only lure in a few crazy people.”

The death fatwa/recruiting video is in the middle section of this Swedish news video. The announcer is speaking Swedish, and so is the mujahid, but the latter was thoughtful enough to subtitle his portion in English (and also Somali):

For previous posts on Lars Vilks and the Roundabout Dogs, see the Modoggie Archives.