Afghan officials say a bomb has exploded in a busy market in southern Afghanistan, killing at least seven people.
Tuesday's attack in the Dihrawud district of Uruzgan province took place as people were shopping in preparation to break their fast for the holy month of Ramadan. Authorities say the bomb was planted on a motorcycle. Eight people were wounded in the blast.
In neighboring Kandahar province, a female provincial government worker was gunned down outside her home in the provincial capital.
A government spokesman says the woman, Rabia Sadat, was shot and killed by a gunman on a motorcycle as she walked to her car early Tuesday. Her driver was wounded in the attack in Kandahar city.
Sadat worked for the provincial government's social affairs program. No group has yet claimed responsibility, and officials are not sure why the woman was targeted.
The attack came a day after militants attacked a supply depot outside the main international military base in Kandahar province, killing four private security guards. Six other guards were wounded.
Provincial spokesman Zalmai Ayubi said insurgents armed with explosives Monday stormed the compound operated by Netherlands-based Supreme Group, which supplies fuel to the military. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and the main city in southern Afghanistan.
Militants have carried out several high-profile killings in Kandahar in recent weeks. Last month, a suicide bomber, with explosives hidden inside his turban, assassinated the city's mayor.
Also last month, a trusted bodyguard shot and killed President Hamid Karzai's half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, who headed Kandahar's provincial council.
Meanwhile, provincial officials in eastern Afghanistan say 12 civilians were wounded by mortars fired during an overnight clash between NATO forces and insurgents in Kunar province.
And in Kabul, more than 3,000 people, including lawmakers, protested near parliament on Tuesday to demand that Afghan President Hamid Karzai stop trying to alter the results of last year's parliamentary election.
Last week, Mr. Karzai issued a decree ordering the Independent Election Commission to decide whether 62 lawmakers who were unseated by a special tribunal due to fraud should be allowed back into the parliament.
