- Somali group issues death threat to Swedish artist

Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has received many death threats for depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog, on Wednesday dismissed a new call from the Shebab Somalian militia to kill him.

"I can feel pretty safe," he told AFP by telephone. "Right now the weather is looking really good (for me). It's too cold and there is too much snow for someone to try an amateur terrorist act."

US monitoring group SITE said Tuesday that a Swedish fighter with the Shebab, a Somalian militia with ties to Al-Qaeda, urged Muslims to kill Vilks.

"Wherever you are, if not today or tomorrow, know that we haven't yet forgotten about you," said the Shebab member Abu Zaid in a video.

"Know what awaits you, as it will be nothing but this: slaughter! For that is what you deserve," Zaid added.

"We will get hold of you and with Allah's permission we will catch you wherever you are and in whatever hole you are hiding in," Zaid said in a recruitment video with English and Swahili subtitles that calls for Muslims to join the radical movement.

Vilks dismissed the video as a desperate attempt for the organisation to recruit new members.

"That organisation has no resources to speak of. They are almost bankrupt," he said.

"They send out that type of information to try to find volunteers that could interest them and to get attention. It's something that can only lure in a few crazy people."

The artist has faced numerous death threats and a suspected assassination plot since his drawing of the Muslim prophet with the body of a dog was first published by Swedish regional daily Nerikes Allehanda in 2007, illustrating an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.

The drawing by Vilks prompted protests by Muslims in the town of Örebro, west of Stockholm, where the newspaper is based. Egypt, Iran and Pakistan also made formal complaints about the drawing.