DUBAI, Feb 2 - Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) leader has offered to train and supply Nigerian Muslims to carry out "violent jihad," in an Internet message, US-monitoring agency SITE said on Tuesday.

Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, in a message posted on a Jihadist forum on Monday, told Nigerian Muslims that they "must embrace violent jihad as the only means of defence against Christians in the country," SITE said.

He was referring to last month\'s riots between Christians and Muslims in the Nigerian city of Jos that left more than 300 dead.

"We are ready to train your children in weapons and to provide them with what we can of support, men, arms, ammunitions, and equipment to enable you to defend our people in Nigeria and to repulse the hostility of the Crusader minority," Abdul Wadud added.

A young Nigerian man allegedly trained in Yemen by Al-Qaeda\'s regional branch is being held in the United States in connection with a thwarted attempt to bomb a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day, last December 25.

SITE said AQIM had in August also addressed Nigerian Muslims, extending sympathy and urging unity after clashes between Islamist Salafist group Boko Haram and security forces in July resulted in several hundred deaths.