BASRA: A car bomb shattered the relative peace of Basra after dark on Wednesday, killing 12 people and wounding 22 in a district packed with restaurants and a market, hospital sources said. A journalist saw at least five bodies at a local hospital. "It appears to have been a large vehicle bomb explosion in the city centre," said a spokesman for the British armed forces.Early on Wednesday, four US security guards died when a bomb hit their sports utility vehicle near Basra, the US Embassy said in a statement. All four worked for a private security firm supporting the regional US Embassy office in Basra, it said, adding that no British or US troops were involved in the incident. Al Qaeda in Iraq later claimed that attack in an Internet statement.