Al-Qaeda's Head Appreciated Rp1.4 Billion, Lars Vilks, Cartoonist Drawing The Prophet Muhammad Killed In Car Accident

Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. (Wikimedia Commons/OlofE)

JAKARTA - Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who caused controversy around the world by drawing the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog in 2007, died in a car crash near the southern Swedish city of Markaryd on Sunday, local police said.

Vilks, 75, who has lived under police protection since the pictures were published, was traveling in a police vehicle that collided with a truck. Two policemen who were with him also died in the accident.

"This is a very tragic incident. It is now important for all of us, that we do everything we can to investigate what happened and what caused the collision," Swedish police said in a statement.

"Initially, no one pointed to anyone else involved," the police continued.

Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet in Islam as offensive and blasphemous.

Since the publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoon, Vilks has lived under round-the-clock police custody following threats to his life. He is the target

Vilks said the cartoon was not meant to provoke Muslims, but to challenge political correctness in the art world.

In 2015, one person was killed in Copenhagen, Denmark, at a gathering meant to mark the 25th anniversary of the Iranian fatwa against British writer Salman Rushdie, which Vilks attended. It is called the target target.

As a result of the depiction he made, citing Sky News, he became wanted by Al-Qaeda. The group held a competition and valued his head worth 100 thousand US dollars or around Rp. 1,424,805,000.

Earlier in 2010, two men tried to burn down his house in southern Sweden. Last year, a woman from Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to a plot to try to kill him.

To note, the Vilks are known in Sweden for illegally building statues made of driftwood in a nature reserve, sparking a lengthy legal battle. He was fined, but the waterfront statue, made of piles of wood nailed together, attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year.