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, 2006, released a report compiled from captured Iraqi intelligence. The report stated that Russia aided Saddam's regime with correct information on the coalition invasion. March 25 – Iraq War 40 people killed or wounded in gun battle near Mahmudiyah. US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Saturday, March 25, that militias, many with strong ties to powerful Shiite leaders and well entrenched in security and police forces, are killing more Iraqis than terrorists. March 26–30 beheaded bodies found in Iraq. March 27 – Memo shows US president was firmly set on the path to war two months before the 2003 Iraq invasion. 40 people were killed and 20 others wounded in recruitment centre suicide bomb attack. March 29 – Around 30–40 bodies are being found on the streets of Baghdad every day, morgue officials said. March 30 – Pentagon requests hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency funds for military construction in Iraq.
April
April 16 – B Squadron, 22nd SAS Regiment carried out Operation Larchwood 4 in Yusufiyah. April 19 – British brigadier attacks America's 'Hollywood' generals.
May
May 10 – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani made a public announcement urging all political parties to "quell this bleeding" after figures showed sectarian violence killed 1,091 in Baghdad the prior month. May 5 – Iraq was listed fourth on the 2006 Failed States Index compiled by the American Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace think-tank. The list was topped by Sudan. May 13/14 – As part of a series of operation in the "Triangle of Death" US forces took out an entire network in and around Latifiyah, the cell was led by Abu Mustafa who was responsible for shooting down a US Apache helicopter in early April. On May 13, US forces raided 4 houses used by Abu Mustafa network, quick exploitation of intelligence found in the raids resulted in US force hitting 3 more locations, the raids resulted in 15 "suspected al-Qaeda associates" as well as Abu Mustafa killed.
