Events in the year 2005 in Iraq. Incumbents President: Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer (acting) (until 6 April), Jalal Talabani (starting 7 April) Prime Minister: Ayad Allawi (until 3 May), Ibrahim al-Jaafari (starting 3 May) Vice President: Ibrahim al-Jaafari (until 7 April), Rowsch Shaways (until 7 April), Adil Abdul-Mahdi (starting 7 April), Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer (starting 7 April) Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (autonomous region) President: Massoud Barzani (until 7 April) Events January January 4 – Governor Ali Al-Haidri, governor of Baghdad province, is assassinated along with two of his bodyguards. January 6 – Seven national guards killed when IED strikes Bradley fighting vehicle. January 21 – A suicide car bomb blows up outside a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad killing 14 worshipers and wounding 40. January 26 – Thirty-one U.S. Marines are killed in a helicopter crash near the Jordan border. January 27 – Iraq's expatriates start voting for the Iraqi National Assembly election, 2005 January 28 – The insurgency continues with several dozen Iraqi deaths. Seven U.S. soldiers killed, three in a helicopter crash. January 29 – About 17 people died from car bombs on the eve of the elections. A rocket hit the U.S. Embassy compound inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, killing two people and wounding at least four. According to the embassy spokesman, all of them are Americans. January 30 – Ghazi Yawer was one of the first people to vote in the Iraqi National Assembly election. Up to 15 British military personnel were killed in Iraq when an air force transport plane crashed northwest of Baghdad. Meanwhile, at least 35 people die in attacks at polling places. January 31 – Nine RAF personnel and one soldier are KIA after a British Hercules plane comes down north-west of Baghdad. February February 4 – Paul Wolfowitz announces that 15,000 U.S. troops whose tours of duty had been temporarily extended will be withdrawn by the next month. February 7 – Two suicide bombers strike in Mosul and Baquba, claiming at least 27 lives, mostly police recruits. February 8 – At least 21 people are killed in a blast at an Iraqi army recruitment centre in Muthenna airfield in west Baghdad. February 9 – At least nine Iraqis die including a correspondent for a U.S.-funded Arabic TV station. February 10 – At least 50 Iraqis are killed when rebels attack targets across the country. Meanwhile, the election results are postponed because