Events in the year 2007 in Iraq. Incumbents President: Jalal Talabani Prime Minister: Nouri al-Maliki Vice President: Tariq al-Hashimi, Adil Abdul-Mahdi Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (autonomous region) President: Massoud Barzani Prime Minister: Nechervan Barzani Events January January 6 – Battle of Haifa Street begins; in the next three days more than 120 people are killed, mostly insurgents. January 10 – President Bush announces new strategy that includes an additional 20,000 troops, eliciting vocal resistance from the US House and Senate. A Moldovan cargo plane mysteriously crashes in Balad. The official cause is fog, but there are claims it was shot down. January 15 – Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court; and Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief, were both executed by hanging before dawn in Baghdad. Ibrahim was beheaded by the noose, sparking anger from Sunnis who claim his body was "mutilated". January 16 – Sixty-five people are killed in a suicide car bomb explosion outside the Baghdad's Al-Mustansiriya University, one of a series of attacks across Iraq that killed at least 109, the deadliest day in weeks. January 18 – The first in the series of 2007 chlorine bombings in Iraq; a failed chemical attack results in 16 deaths from explosives. January 20 – The third deadliest day for US troops in Iraq occurred, with at least 25 US soldiers killed. Twelve were killed when a US helicopter was shot down northeast of Baghdad, four more were killed in Anbar province, and three were killed in separate roadside bombings. Five of the soldiers were killed during the Karbala provincial headquarters raid, in which about a dozen militiamen—who spoke English, wore US military uniforms, carried US-issued arms and drove vehicles used by dignitaries—attacked the governor's compound and kidnapped and later executed some of the American soldiers located inside in what is considered one of the most sophisticated attacks of the war. January 21 – Moqtada al-Sadr announces his political bloc will return to parliament, ending his two-month boycott. January 22 – Two powerful car bombs ripped through a market in central Baghdad, killing at least 88 people and wounding 160 others. The blasts at the Baghdad market were aimed at a Shiite area and seemed timed to inflict maximum damage, occurring at noon local time, one of the busiest times of day. In addition to the market attacks, a bombing in a Shiite town