Technocrat Thamir Ghadban was nominated as oil minister, said Chalabi, a Shiite relative of Allawi who ran a rival exile opposition party and has fallen out of favour with Washington.
Iraq has the world's second biggest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and rebuilding an industry wrecked by Saddam's wars and sanctions is a priority for restoring prosperity.
Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite, was nominated as finance minister, Chalabi said. Sunni Samir Sumaidy would stay on as interior minister and Raja Habib Khuzai, a British-educated Shiite doctor, was nominated to the Health Ministry, he added.
Meanwhile, Shiite fighters clashed with US forces in the holy city of Najaf yesterday, the latest in a series of skirmishes since a truce offer last week by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Militiamen exchanged gunfire with a US tank and blasts from Iraqi rocket-propelled grenades or mortars were heard.
But US commanders say they are optimistic that, over the coming days, the truce will end an uprising by Sadr's Mahdi Army that has cost hundreds of Iraqi lives over the past two months.
The US military announced the deaths of four more soldiers, bring the total combat death toll to at least 588 since the start of the invasion last year.



