A Nigerian accused of trying to bomb a US-bound flight on Christmas Day 2009 has told his trial in Detroit that he is changing his plea to guilty. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, told a judge he was admitting all eight charges against him, including terrorism and attempted murder. Mr Abdulmutallab caught fire when a bomb sewn into his underwear failed to detonate fully, prosecutors say. Nearly 300 people were on the flight to Detroit with Mr Abdulmutallab. He is likely to face a life sentence. US Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds verified that Mr Abdulmutallab understood his right to silence before asking him if he wished to make a plea. "Do I understand correctly that you wish to waive that right [in order] to plead guilty to all the charges in the indictment?" she asked. "Yes," the defendant replied. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, said it was behind the attack on the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam on 25 December 2009. Passengers had to put out the fire after the bomb failed to detonate fully, the court heard on Monday. US and Yemeni officials have linked Mr Abdulmutallab to radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, whom he is said to have met while in Yemen before the attack, and that he was trained for the attack in Yemen, by the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Mr Abdulmutallab's father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, an influential banker who is well connected in Nigerian politics, said he had approached the US embassy officials and Nigerian authorities to warn them about his son in 2009. Mr Abdulmutallab is technically representing himself, but has a stand-by lawyer, Anthony Chambers.