Controversial Swedish Cartoonist of Prophet Mohammad Dies in a Car Crash

ALBAWABA – The death of Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks is being reported widely both by newspapers and the social media. But why?

Well, its because he has proven himself to be a controversial figure over the years. Vilks is known for his “derogatory depiction” of Prophet Muhammad and met a sudden death on Sunday. He died in a car accident reports the Anadolu news agency.

He was killed with the two police guards that had long been assigned to him as their cars collided with a truck resulting in a fire of both vehicles reports the Turkish-based news agency quoting the Swedish SVT broadcaster.

The truck driver was seriously injured and taken to hospital were he is recovering. The accident occurred on a highway in south Sweden.

Vilks had been living under police protection since his controversial sketch of Prophet Mohammad in 2007 when he began to receive death threats. He had been living in a secret location since then with 24-hour body guards assigned to him as reports suggests Al Qaeda had put $100,000 bounty on his head. 

His death is being reported internationally with stories including from the Daily Mail, the BBC and the London-based Guardian as the police continue their investigations.

Social media comments have been rife. One said the cartoonist, who is now 75 years old, hurt millions of Muslims due to his derogatory and insulting cartoon of the prophet. The Daily Mail reports he had already survived two attempts on his life after the cartoon episode.