The Swedish blasphemous cartoonist Lars Vilks – notorious for drawing caricature of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 2007 – has been killed in a car accident.
According to Swedish police, the 75-year-old was killed in a collision with an approaching truck on Sunday along with two of his bodyguards.
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”. He added that there was no suspicion of foul play.
The accident happened near the tiny hamlet of Markaryd, when Vilks’ vehicle collided with an approaching truck.
According to authorities, both cars caught fire, and the truck driver was taken to the hospital. Officials say the reason of the accident is unknown.
Regional police head Carina Persson said “The person we were protecting and two colleagues died in this inconceivable and terribly sad tragedy”.
Outrage over caricatures
Despite the fact that Vilks hurt sentiments of more than 1.9 billion Muslims by drawing blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad in 2007 and caused a diplomatic rift between other countries and Sweden, he was not reprimanded.
Earlier in 2015, Vilks escaped a gun assault at a free-speech convention in Copenhagen, which claimed the life of a Danish film director.
