Swedish artist Lars Vilks dies in a traffic accident

A Swedish artist Lars Vilks who sketched the head of Prophet Muhammad on the body of a dog, has died in a traffic accident.

Vilks was traveling in a civilian police vehicle. The vehicle collided with a truck near the town of Markyard in the south of Sweden. This collision also killed two police officers and left an injury on the truck driver.

This 75-year-old artist was living under police protection as he faced several death threats over the famous cartoon.

He published the cartoon in 2007. It has offended many Muslims who regard the visual representation of the Prophet as blasphemous. This came after one year of the incident when a Danish newspaper published the cartoons of the prophet.

A statement coming from police said that it was still not at all clear how the collision took place.

A police spokesperson said, “This is being investigated like any other road accident. Because two policemen were involved, an investigation has been assigned to a special section of the prosecutor’s office.”

The police car in which Lars Vilks was traveling at high speed. One eyewitness said that the car most probably lost its control and came over to his side of the motorway at a higher speed. The truck didn’t have the time to swerve. Then it collided in a loud bang and speed.

After that, a large fire broke out, and several emergency vehicles came to the scene. Vilks made headlines worldwide with his cartoon outrage. It has then made Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt meet the ambassadors from 22 Muslim countries to defuse the situation.

Recently al- Qaeda in Iraq offered a $100000 reward for his murder. In 2015, Vilks attended a debate where he faced a gun attack. Vilks was an artist and an activist who worked with painting or created installations. He also made a sculpture with driftwood in the nature reserve in southern Sweden. He erected it without permission which triggered a legal war.

Credits: BBC