DUBLIN, March 13 Three of seven Muslims arrested over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish artist who drew sketches of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) have been released without charge, according to Irish police.

The three, two women and one man, were freed after three-and-a-half days of questioning. Three men and one woman remain in custody.

The group was arrested on Tuesday over an alleged plot to assassinate Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has a $100,000 bounty on his head from an Al Qaeda-linked group.

“They were released without charge,” a Garda (Irish police) spokesman said.

Those arrested were three Algerians, a Libyan, a Palestinian, a Croatian and a US national, a police source said.

They ranged in age from mid-20s to late 40s. Suspects can be held for up to a week after their arrest without charge.

Police are preparing files for the country director of prosecutions on the three who were released, meaning they could still face charges.

The controversy started when Swedish regional daily Nerikes Allehanda published Vilks' sketch in 2007. The cartoon prompted protests by Muslims in the town of Oerebro, west of Stockholm, where the newspaper is based, while Egypt, Iran and Pakistan made formal complaints. Earlier this week, the Irish Independent newspaper reported that a suspect known as “JihadJane”, the online name of Colleen LaRose, had spent two weeks in Ireland last September on a “fact-finding trip” before her arrest in October.

LaRose has been indicted for recruiting jihadis in the US, Europe and Asia in a bid to carry out terror plots. She was reportedly monitored with a couple in Cork and Waterford in southern Ireland, where the seven were arrested.—AFP