Swedish cartoonist receives fresh death threats

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The Swedish cartoonist whose sketch of the Prophet Mohammad has made him the target of Muslim anger said on Wednesday he had received more death threats since arrests were made this week over an alleged plot to kill him.

Lars Vilks, whose sketch had shown the Prophet Mohammad with the body of a dog, told Reuters the death threats had been made in Internet messages following the arrests by police in Ireland of seven people in connection with the alleged murder plot.

He said he had received a large number of threats since 2007, when his sketch was first published, but new ones were sent to him on Tuesday.

"They wanted to shoot me in the head with a shotgun," Vilks said, referring to one of the latest messages. "The other one was also about killing me."

Irish police said on Tuesday they had detained four men and three women in southern Ireland as part of an investigation into a murder conspiracy. A security source said the investigation was into a plot to murder Vilks.

In 2007, an Iraqi group linked to al Qaeda offered a $100,000 reward for Vilks' killing.

The 63-year-old, who continues to live at his home in southern Sweden and has no bodyguards, said he had no regrets about drawing the cartoons.

"If you mean to be a serious artist ... this will be the outcome sometimes -- that you will bump into borders with unseen consequences," he said.

Vilks said he had no political motive.

"The only stand I have is the freedom of speech. I am interested in watching the battle going on, and the debate."

Vilks says he has prepared a secure room in his house with barricades in case of any break-in.

In January, a Somali man was indicted on charges of terrorism and attempted murder for breaking into the home of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and threatening him with an axe.

A cartoon by Westergaard in 2005 which depicted the Prophet Mohammad with a turban shaped like a bomb sparked outrage across the Muslim world, with at least 50 people killed in riots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Most Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam as offensive.

Vilks expects the death threats may intensify in the days ahead due to the arrests in Ireland but said he plans to go about his regular activities unless advised by the Swedish police of a higher level of threat.

"I thought I was of lesser interest and that I should be forgotten in a way," Vilks said. "Becoming a star means you will not be forgotten, you will be an even more interesting target."

(Reporting by Ilze Filks and Mia Shanley; Editing by Charles Dick)