Atta Noor elected chair of Jamiat splinter group

Delegates attending a congress of the Jamiat-e-Islami faction led by Atta Mohammad Noor on Thursday elected Noor as their party chairman.

Noor secured the majority of votes, with 65 out of 75; while Hafiz Mansour secured seven and three votes went to Qadrieh Yazdanparast.

The election came after at least three people were killed and four others wounded in a shooting earlier in the day. The incident happened after delegates had gathered for the meeting at a hotel close to the airport in Kabul city.

Noor only arrived after the incident but said later the attack had been the work of his political opponents and was worse than a terrorist attack.

The shooting started at 10:20 am as delegates were gathering and carried on until about 1 pm until Special Forces arrived and brought the situation under control.

Reports indicate at least six gunmen were involved in the shooting.

“Several gunmen wanted to disrupt the event,” one delegate told ArianaNews.

“Our opponents wanted to prevent the congress from taking place,” another delegate said.

Once the situation was brought under control, key figures including Noor, Mohammad Ismail Khan, and Younis Qanuni arrived at the venue.

“It was a cowardly and terrorist attack,” said Noor.

“In the current situation, Jamiat party unity is very important,” said another key member, Enayatullah Shadab.

Witnesses to the incident added that the shooting was carried out by individuals who opposed the holding of a Jamiat congress led by Noor.

“Today, a splinter group of the Jamiat under the name of Congress held a conference that has no affiliation with the Islamic Jamiat of Afghanistan and has no legal validity,” said Abdul Fattah Ahmadzai, a spokesman of Jamiat-e-Islami Afghanistan.

Disputes within the party have escalated over the past eight months between Salahuddin Rabbani and Noor, reportedly over the holding of the Jamiat Party congress.