'Underpants bomber' Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab pleads guilty

A Nigerian man has admitted trying to bring down an international flight over the United States with a bomb in his underwear in retaliation for the killing of Muslims worldwide, taking a federal court by surprise as he pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, nicknamed "the underpants bomber", had never denied the charges against him. He calmly answered questions from the judge before pleading guilty to all eight charges he faced, including conspiracy to commit terrorism and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

He said the underwear bomb was a "blessed weapon to save the lives of innocent Muslims" and "if they continue to persist and promote the blasphemy of Mohamed and the prophets... the United States should await a great calamity".