New details emerge about man who tried to bomb Detroit plane

DETROIT -- A Nigerian who pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a Detroit-bound plane began his path to terrorism with a text message from a top al-Qaeda figure in Yemen, the U.S. government said in a court filing that discloses new details about their relationship.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab faces life in prison at his sentencing Thursday. Although the punishment is mandatory, prosecutors filed a memo urging the judge to also order the maximum penalties, which range from 20 years to life in prison, for seven other crimes.

It has been known that Abdulmutallab traveled in 2009 to Yemen to find Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric and one of the best-known al-Qaeda figures who was killed in a U.S. drone strike last year.

But the government's court filing offers more details, based on Abdulmutallab's interviews with the FBI.

In October, on the second day of trial, Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty to trying to bring down a Christmas 2009 Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight with a bomb in his underwear.

The bomb, however, didn't go off.

After a three-day stay at al-Awlaki's house, Abdulmutallab was accepted for a "martyrdom mission," the government said.

"Al-Awlaki instructed defendant that the only requirements were that the attack be on a U.S. airliner, and that the attack take place over U.S. soil. Beyond that, al-Awlaki gave defendant discretion to choose the flight and date," the government said.