Suspicious materials found in central Iraq were being tested to see whether chemical agents were present.

U.S. troops discovered hidden barrels of liquid chemicals on Monday in central Iraq. Samples of the chemicals are being studied to determine if they are harmful to humans and if they could be used to make illegal chemical weapons. Initial tests of the liquids showed that they were not weaponized - armed in a form that could be used against people. Brig. Gen. Benjamin Freakly of the Army's 101st Airborne Division said the chemicals could simply be pesticides.

In a separate incident on Monday, British officials said that a weekend coalition airstrike had taken the life of Iraqi Gen. Ali Hassan al-Majeed, who was otherwise known as "Chemical Ali." The Iraqi military official allegedly used chemical weapons to kill thousands of ethnic Iraqi Kurds in 1998. He was a cousin of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

U.S. troops stormed the main palace of Iraq's president on Monday. The move came as part of a coalition effort to show the Iraqi people that Saddam's rule was coming to an end. U.S. forces also knocked over a 40-foot statue of Saddam in a park.

A blast in a residential neighborhood of Baghdad left at least nine civilians dead and 13 wounded, but the source of the bomb was unclear on Monday.

In another part of the Iraqi capital, two journalists and two U.S. soldiers died when an Iraqi fired a rocket at a U.S. Army command post. 15 other U.S. soldiers were wounded. According to CNN's Walter Rodgers, who is embedded with the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry of the 3rd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army, the post was set up south of Baghdad while other Army units rolled into the Iraqi capital.

The incident did not prevent coalition forces from building up their presence in Baghdad. Sources told CNN on Monday that three battalions of the U.S. Army's 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry planned to stay in the city and occupy it.

In the early morning hours on Tuesday, explosions and machine gun fire were heard in Baghdad. A correspondent for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation reported that the machine gun fire was coming from the direction of a presidential palace. U.S. forces have entered at least two of Saddam's palaces in Baghdad.