Mohammed cartoonist Lars Vilks dies in traffic accident in Sweden

The Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who become well known for drawing a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed, has died along with two police bodyguards in a serious traffic accident.

A civilian police car carrying Vilks and his two bodyguards collided with a truck near Markaryd in the south of Sweden, police announced late on Sunday evening.

All three died. The truck driver was taken to hospital by ambulance.

The artist had been under police protection for years because of death threats from Islamists. He was 75 years old.

It was an "incredibly tragic" accident, Swedish Culture Minister Amanda Lind wrote on Twitter.

Vilks had had to live without freedom since 2010 because he had made use of his freedom of expression and artistic freedom, she said.

Islamist hatred

The artist, who was born in Helsingborg in 1946, was known for his wooden sculptures and for having depicted the prophet Mohammed as a round dog.

In August 2007, a Swedish newspaper published one of the Mohammed drawings for the first time.

The drawings led to international protests, and Vilks became the object of hatred of Islamists.