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JAILED: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was sentenced to life imprisonment for terror attempt on a US-bound flight

A NIGERIAN man who tried to hijack a US-bound flight on Christmas Day has been sentenced to life without parole, it was reported.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 25, pleaded guilty to attempting to blow up a commercial plane carrying nearly 300 people from Amsterdam to Detroit using a bomb, concealed in his underpants, in 2009.

"This was an act of terrorism that cannot be quibbled with," Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds said, as she imposed the maximum sentence.

Abdulmutallab, who claimed he was working on behalf of terrorist group, al Qaeda, was badly burned when a bomb sewn into his underwear caught fire, prosecutors said.

The 25-year-old son of a Nigerian banker, is a former engineering student at University College London. He faced eight counts against him, including terrorism and attempted murder.

Abdulmutallab is said to have admitted to investigators that he was working for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and had received the bomb, as well as training before travelling from Nigeria to Amsterdam.

Once on board it is reported that the bomb failed to detonate completely and passengers had to put out the fire.