Denmark: Bomber a Chechen from Belgium (UPDATED 9: Religious or not religious?)

Denmark: Bomber a Chechen from Belgium


B.T. reports they identified the bomber, a Chechen-born Belgian named LD. Danish blogger Uriasposten did some digging and pegs him as Lors Doukaiev.

Belgian boxing trainer Albert Syben from Liège says he trained the man. Syben worked for several years for the Belgian police. When he understood that his former student in the Boxing Club Cocktail was responsible for an explosion in Denmark, his immediate response: "It doesn't surprise me".
Syben says L.D. learned architecture and that's he's not lacking in intelligence. He says that according to L.D.'s girlfriend, he went to Luxembourg last week and since then she can't contact him. He also traveled a lot between Belgium and Chechnya.

The police are skeptical. They say the man speaks such good French, it's hard to believe he was born in Chechnya.

Update:

Syben says he hadn't seen LD for eight months (DA) and that his former student wasn't boxing as much lately. His last fight was in January, where he won after three rounds (as did Lors Doukaiev)
LD came to Belgium with his mother, a doctor.

B.T.'s investigation was simple. The bomber had a broken nose and was very probably a boxer. He had a stolen Belgian passport. Result: start digging in the Belgian and French boxing communities. They found a trainer in Liège who said he trained a one-legged Chechen. After showing him the pictures got full confirmation and an amazing victory for investigative journalism.

The Danish newspapers decided not to publish the bomber's full name.

Update 2 - more confirmation:

Not that there was much doubt about it, but turns out Lors Doukaiev is a one legged boxer (FR).


Update 3 - Chechnya-Belgium-Germany:
Doukaiev is 34 (born in 1986), not 24.  Sorry about that, I need to review basic math.  Doukaiev was born in 1986, and is 24 years old.

Doukaiev traveled a lot (NL), especially between Chechnya, Germany and Belgium.


Update 4 - police confirmation:

Both Danish and Belgian police (DA) confirm the one-legged bomber is Lors Doukaiev.


Update 5 - boxing match:

Lors Doukaiev in a boxing match.

The next question is: who sent him? Somebody provided Doukaiev with the passports and explosives.


Update 6 - lost his leg stepping on a Russian mine:

Lors Doukaiev was in Copenhagen in 2008 on a tour with his school, the Institut Superior d'Architecture Saint-Luc.  This explains why Doukaiev had with him a map of Copenhagen from 2008.

The school's dean, Norbert Nelles, says that shortly after starting his second semester at the school, he dropped the course and said he got a job in Germany.

Nelles is surprised that Doukaiev blew up a bomb in Denmark.  He says Doukaiev was a pleasant young Muslim man, who prayed every day.  He adds that this is not different than many other Muslims.

Doukaiev lost his leg (DA) when he was 12.  While on holiday in Chechnya he went to play in a playground when the Russians showed up.  He managed to return home unharmed, but the next day, when he returned to the same playground, he stepped on a mine left by the Russians.

Doukaiev is mentioned in an article on Rambler.ru about injured children from Chechnya.  The article says he was born in 1983.  This could be wrong, or it might be that he gave the Belgians incorrect information when he sought asylum.


Update 7 - disappeared in July:

Lors Doukaiev (written Dukajev in Danish) moved from Chechnya to Belgium in 2002 (DA), according to Belgian journalist Yves Barbieux of Het Nieuwsblad.

Doukaiev disappeared in July and nobody knew where he was.  Many people wondered where he was, others were concerned.


Update 8 - started hiding his identity two years ago:

Via Politiken:
Foldager [ed: of the Copenhagen Police] says that intensive police investigations are still under way, as police have been dealing with someone who began hiding his identity some two years ago. According to Foldager, the man’s false lower right leg, which was made some two years ago, had its serial numbers removed before it was finally produced and fitted, indicating a wish to make identification more difficult.


Update 9 - religious or not religious?:

"I'm not surprised about the case.  My brother-in-law is mentally ill," (DA) Shepa Bersanov, who is married to Doukaiev's sister, told jp.dk.

He says that Doukaiev is not especially religious or a fighter for the Chechen cause.  "He didn't speak Arabic.  He didn't go to the mosque or fast like other Muslims.  He's not a proper Chechen or a proper Muslim."  Bersanov says that Doukaiev saw himself more as a Russian than a Chechen.

"I can't stand him and I've never communicated much with him.  I'm married to his sister and I think he's mentally ill."  Bersanov is currently in the process of divorcing Doukaiev's sister

On the other hand, local Belgian paper Le Meuse reports that Doukaiev was known as being very religous (fundamentalist).  Every time he went back to Chechnya he would shave his head, and said that if he wouldn't, he'd be killed within a couple of days.

Doukaiev has Belgian citizenship and was signed up by the social services.