Afghan officials say a bomb has exploded in a busy market in southern Afghanistan, killing at least seven people and wounding eight others.

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.

In neighboring Kandahar province, a female provincial government worker 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.

Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and the main city in southern Afghanistan.

In the country's south and east Tuesday, two NATO service members died as a result of non-battle related injuries. No other details were immediately available.

In southern Helmand province, a combined Afghan-NATO patrol killed at least 10 insurgents and detained two others late Monday during an operation targeting an insurgent leader in Now Zad district.

Meanwhile, 12 civilians were wounded by mortars fired during an overnight clash between NATO forces and insurgents in northeastern Kunar province.

In Kabul, more than 3,000 people, including lawmakers, protested near parliament 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.