Controversial Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks killed in car crash

Controversial Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who had been under police protection since 2010, after his sketch prompted widespread condemnation, was killed along with two bodyguards in a crash on Sunday.

His car crash near the southern town of Markaryd. The artist had been under police protection since 2010, after his sketch prompted widespread condemnation from Muslims. He was killed along with two bodyguards in a crash that the police said was an accident, New York Times reported.

"This is a very tragic incident. It is now important to all of us that we do everything we can to investigate what happened and what caused the collision," Swedish police informed.

"Initially, there is nothing that points to anyone else being involved," Police officers added.

Vilks was an artist and free speech activist whose cartoon depiction of the Prophet Muhammad on the body of a dog in 2007 made him the target of numerous assassination attempts, the New York Times reported.

Vilks was also attacked in 2015 while he was speaking at an event called "Art, Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression". The attack killed a filmmaker and wounded three police officers.

( With inputs from ANI )

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