Sepcial Report: Tension accelerates in Iraq

   BAGHDAD, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi police found five bodies in execution-style in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Friday, an Interior Ministry source said.

   "Five bodies of men wearing Arab traditional robes were found at the edge of Sadr City. The bodies were blindfolded, bound and shot in the head," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

   The latest deaths brought the number of bodies found in Baghdadon Friday to 12.

   Earlier in the day, the police said that seven bodies were found at the entrance of the al-Bunoug neighborhood in northern Baghdad.

   A wave of sectarian reprisal attacks between the main Iraqi Shiite and Sunni communities swept the country in the wake of a bombing attack that destroyed a major Shiite shrine in northern Iraq on Feb. 22.  Enditem