BAGHDAD, March 24 (Xinhua) -- A roadside bomb exploded outside a Sunni mosque in northern Iraq on Friday, killing five and wounding 18, a local police source told Xinhua.

   The blast occurred at around 1:15 p.m. (1015 GMT) outside the Saad bin Abiwaquas mosque in Khalis, a town 80 km northeast of Baghdad, said the source from the Joint Coordination Center in Baquba.

   The bombing caused many casualties as worshippers were leaving the mosque after midday prayers, he added.

   Also on Friday, the Iraqi police found five bodies in execution-style in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad.

   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