An American woman known as "Jihad Jane" has been charged with recruiting jihadist fighters via the internet and conspiring to kill an unnamed person in Sweden.

The US justice department unsealed the indictment against Colleen LaRose, who was arrested last October, hours after Irish police arrested seven people accused of plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist.

LaRose faces charges of "conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft", the indictment said.

Over the course of at least a year, she is alleged to have used the internet to recruit men in South Asia, Europe and the US for terrorist attacks.

She is also accused of recruiting women "who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad" and of having stolen a US passport "and transferred or attempted to transfer it in an effort to facilitate an act of international terrorism".

The indictment alleges LaRose received two messages in March last year from a person in a South Asian country instructing her to kill an unnamed Swedish resident.

"Kill him... this is what i say to u," the indictment quotes one message as saying.

"Kill (the individual) in a way that the whole Kufar [non-believer] world get frightened," the second said.

"I will make this my goal till i achieve it or die trying," LaRose allegedly responded.

US officials declined to comment on whether LaRose was connected to the arrest of four men and three women in Ireland over an alleged plot to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks.

An Al Qaeda-linked group has placed a $US100,000 ($109,000) bounty on his head in response to a cartoon he drew depicting the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.

LaRose, also identified by the moniker "Fatima LaRose", faces life in prison if convicted.

A MySpace page under the name "JihadJane" features a biography of a Pennsylvania woman who describes herself as having "reverted to Islam".

"I live in Pennsylvania, originally from Texas. I have recently reverted to Islam and I can safely say that of all the things I have ever done in my lifetime, bcomming [sic] Muslim is what I am the proudest of."

Elsewhere, the user lists her heroes as "Sheikh OBL", an apparent reference to Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, and "The brothers in... Jihad".

The indictment and material released by SITE, a US group that monitors extremists, suggest LaRose had an active online presence despite being repeatedly banned from websites including YouTube and harbouring fears she was under surveillance.

- AFP