In Baghdad, at least five people were killed in a double car bomb attack, the day after a suicide bombing in the capital that killed four policemen.
The government announced that oil minister Ibrahim Bahr Al Ulum had been suspended for 30 days and Chalabi put in charge of the ministry.
"The decision was taken because of Mr. Bahr Al Ulum's objections to the early introduction of higher petrol prices," an official said on condition of anonymity.
The government earlier this month announced a tripling of petrol prices in a bid to reduce subsidies, a move that sparked angry protests across the country.
The country's largest oil refinery remains closed after insurgent threats in the wake of the price hikes.
The Baiji refinery, which normally produces 8.5 million liters of petroleum and 7.5 million liters of diesel per day, was shut down on December 21 after threats were made to tanker-truck drivers, the oil ministry said on Thursday.
In the latest violence, at least five people were killed and 10 wounded when two car bombs exploded in the capital near a rank used by minibuses travelling to a Shia district, security officials said.
On the political front, opposition parties welcomed a decision by international observers to review complaints of electoral fraud, as Shia and Kurdish leaders offered to open the next government to minority representatives.
Anxious to defuse a growing crisis arising out allegations of widespread fraud in the December 15 election, the United States and the United Nations threw their support behind the review.
"I welcome the invitation of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq to international monitors and experts to observe and review the December 15 elections, including the complaints settlement process," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said it was "critical that those Iraqi groups who have complained about the conduct of the election are given a hearing".
Sunni Arab representatives, along with those from minority secular parties, have charged that the elections were tainted by ballot rigging and intimidation at some polling stations and have organised street demonstrations to demand a new election.
Iraq's electoral commission has received around 1,500 complaints, but has ruled out re-running the poll. However, it said it might throw out some tainted ballots before releasing final results next week.
"When there are complaints, there has to be a credible process for dealing with them," the US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said in a statement. "The new permanent government of Iraq needs to be established in a process of utmost transparency."
The Sunni-based National Concord Front coalition welcomed the dispatch of international assessors, saying: "Finding objective criteria to evaluate the results... will help us accept the results."
The secular Iraqi National list led by former prime minister Ayad Allawi also expressed support for the monitors and called on all parties to cooperate.
Both Allawi's list and the Sunni coalition had threatened to boycott the next parliament if their complaints were ignored.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Thursday he had agreed with Shia leader Abdel Aziz Al Hakim "in principle on a government of national unity". But he said: "The other parties must believe in certain principles," including "rejection of terrorism."
Sunni Arabs form the backbone of the ongoing insurgency.
Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and member of the Shia coalition holding a majority of seats in the current parliament, praised the "strategic alliance" between Kurds and Shias.
"Our alliance does not signify exclusion of others and is not directed against anyone," said Hakim, whose list is widely expected to take a majority of parliamentary seats.
Meanwhile, the family of French hostage Bernard Planche appealed for his release, saying he was in Iraq only to help the people of the war-torn country.
"He came to Iraq to help in its reconstruction and aid the Iraqi people," his daughter Isabelle Planche said a videotape broadcast by Dubai-based Al Arabiya television.
Planche, a 52-year-old engineer, was doing water distribution work when he was seized on December 5.
A previously unknown group calling itself the Battalion of the Lookout for Iraq warned he would be executed unless Paris ended its "illegitimate presence".
France has appealed for his release, saying it had no troops in the country.
One country taking part in the US-led military coalition, South Korea, decided it would reduced its 3,200-strong military presence by one third next year while extending its mission until the end of 2006. South Korean troops are the third-largest force in Iraq after those of the United States and Britain.
© 2005 Agence France-Presse
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