The following lists events that happened during 2006 in Iraq. Incumbents President: Jalal Talabani Prime Minister: Ibrahim al-Jaafari (until 20 May), Nouri al-Maliki (starting 20 May) Vice President: Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer (until 22 April), Tariq al-Hashimi (starting 22 April), Adil Abdul-Mahdi Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (autonomous region) President: Massoud Barzani Prime Minister: Nechervan Idris Barzani (until 1 March) Events January January 4 – Suicide bomber struck a Shiite funeral in Karbala, killing 32 and wounding 40. January 5 – Iraq War 50 people were killed and 80 wounded by a suicide bomb attack in the Iraqi city of Karbala. 70 people were killed and 40 injured in a suicide attack on a line of police recruits in Ramadi. Insurgent violence shut down Iraq's largest oil refinery. January 6 – Iraq War Thousands of Shiites demonstrated in Baghdad after two days of bloodshed that claimed almost 200 lives. A secret Pentagon study has found that at least 80 percent of the marines who have died in Iraq due to wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had worn extra body armor. The armor has been available since 2003. Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. civilian occupation authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, has admitted the United States did not anticipate the insurgency in the country, NBC television said on Friday. Demonstrations protesting against unemployment in the Iraqi town of Nasiriyah turned violent leaving two dead and two dozen injured. February February 22 – The Al Askari Mosque bombing. Although no injuries occurred in the blast, the bombing was hugely offensive to Shi'ites and resulted in violence over the following days widely described as a civil war. The Iraqi government has stated that 379 people were killed in the subsequent attacks, although the Washington Post reported that over 1,300 people were killed. February 28 – A bomber blew himself up near a petrol station in one of the Iraqi capital's Shia areas just before curfew and hours after other blasts killed 35. March March 12 – Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, a fourteen-year-old Iraqi girl was raped and murdered together with most of her family in the Mahmudiyah killings. March 23 – members of the Special Air Service recovered British and Canadian ending held hostage the held Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis. March 24 – Joint Center for Operational Analysis at United States Department of Defense on March 24,