LODI TERROR BOMBSHELL

**WELCOME MICHELLE MALKIN READERS**
Umer and Hamid Hayat, both of Lodi, are on trial for having terrorist ties and lying to federal authorities. Their trial has been uneventful, that is, until yesterday.

An FBI informant testified that al-Qaida's #2 man, Ayman al-Zawahri, pictured to the left of OBL, once lived in Lodi and attended the local mosque in the late 1990s. From the Sacramento Bee:

Top al-Qaida figure lived in Lodi, witness says

By Denny Walsh -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:07 pm PST Monday, March 13, 2006

An FBI informant testified Monday in Sacramento federal court that al-Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, lived in Lodi during parts of 1998 and 1999.

Naseem Khan, who is a critical prosecution witness in the trials of two Lodi men charged with having terrorist ties, testified he was living in Lodi in 1998 and 1999 and "every time I would go to the mosque (al-Zawahri) would be coming or going" from the mosque.

Khan said al-Zawahri, known to the FBI as Osama bin Laden’s personal physician and top adviser, "disappeared" sometime in 1999.

Khan recalled that he would speak to al-Zawahri when they encountered one another in passing but never had a conversation with him. "He would quietly come to the mosque and leave," Khan recalled.

He did not say that he saw al-Zawahri anywhere else in Lodi during that period.

Khan said he did not know who al-Zawahri was until he saw his picture with bin Laden on television news after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

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Here in Sacramento this story is all the buzz as Lodi is connected to the top figures in al-Qaida. More from KXTV CH. 10 here. Background on the case here.

As of Tuesday Morning--from the Sacramento Bee (reg req).

I wonder who's attending mosque services in your town? Makes you think, huh? For the listing of a mosque near you, click here.