Man tried to bomb jetliner

A NIGERIAN man pleaded guilty yesterday to trying to bring down a jetliner with a bomb in his underwear, defiantly telling a federal judge that he acted in retaliation for the killing of Muslims worldwide and referring to the failed explosive as a “blessed weapon”.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who acknowledged working for al-Qaida and never denied the allegations, entered the plea on the second day of his trial.

“If you laugh at us now, we will laugh at you later on the day of judgment,” he told the judge.

He stands to get a mandatory life sentence for the 2009 attack that aimed to kill nearly 300 people on Christmas Day.

The Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight was just moments away from landing when Abdulmutallab tried to detonate the bomb in his pants. It failed to go off but his clothes caught fire, and passengers jumped on him when they saw smoke and flames.