A Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a US passenger plane told his parents he wanted to study Islamic sharia law in Yemen shortly before cutting off contact with them, the Nigerian government said today.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, had been studying for a masters degree in Dubai when he told his parents he was going to Yemen to study Arabic for a few weeks, Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili told reporters in the capital Abuja.

"After a few weeks he now sent a message to the parents that he wanted to stay back and study sharia for seven years and the father said no, you can't do that," Akunyili said.

"The father said they were not ready to send him school fees or money for upkeep, that he should go back to Dubai and complete his masters. (But Abdulmutallab) said he was going to get everything free," she said.

Abdulmutallab has been charged with trying to blow up a Delta Airlines plane as it approached Detroit on a flight from Amsterdam with almost 300 people on board.

A regional wing of al Qaeda said it was behind the failed Christmas Day bombing, which was meant to avenge US attacks on the group in Yemen, according to a web statement.

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