The US government has charged a Pennsylvania woman with conspiring to commit terrorism by using the internet to find recruits to carry out attacks in Europe and South Asia, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

The charges against Colleen R. LaRose include conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and to kill in a foreign country, making false statements and attempting identity theft. If convicted, she could be ordered to spend the rest of her life in prison and pay $1 million in fines, the department said.

The indictment accuses LaRose, who lives in eastern Pennsylvania, with travelling to Sweden with the intent to kill a Swedish citizen. It adds that she began tracking the target online to carry out the task and that she and her co-conspirators discussed the fact that her US citizenship and appearance would 'help her blend in while carrying out her plans'.

Today's indictment ... underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face,' said David Kris, the department's assistant attorney general for national security.

The indictment also alleges that LaRose used the internet to solicit funds for terrorism, communicate with other plotters and to acquire passports to move people across borders without drawing suspicion.

The Justice Department did not identify the alleged co-conspirators, saying only that they lived in various locations around the world.

LaRose, who was born in 1963, has also gone by the nicknames Fatima LaRose and JihadJane.