Afghan Officials: Policewoman showed signs of instability

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghan officials say there had been signs of mental instability in the policewoman who shot and killed an American contractor yesterday in Kabul.

An Interior Ministry spokesman says after the woman attended a recent training course in Egypt, Afghan authorities were told that she did not appear to be "normal."

Officials had earlier said the woman was licensed to carry the weapon into the compound where the shooting took place, and that she was well known there. But investigators are now saying she sneaked the gun through security.

The woman, originally from Iran, had been on the police force for five years. Officials say she married an Afghan man in Iran and moved to Afghanistan 10 years ago after her husband obtained fake documents for her.

The shooting victim was Joseph Griffin of Mansfield, Georgia. The U.S.-based security firm that employed him says he was a U.S. military veteran who had earlier worked with law enforcement agencies in the United States. He was under contract to the NATO military command to advise the Afghan police force.

This was the first in the recent spate of "insider attacks" to be carried out by a woman. No militant group has claimed responsibility.