In the south of the country, British troops poured into the second largest city of Basra.
"The battle [for Basra] is more or less over now," Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Blackman of the 7th Armoured Brigade said.
"We are covering all the areas of Basra, including the old city. There are soldiers and armored vehicles inside [the old city] right now."
Royal Marine commandos seized Saddam's presidential palace in Basra and other troops were in control of the city's main university after killing a dozen Iraqi militiamen holed up there.
British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said there was strong evidence that Ali Hasan al-Majid, the notorious Iraqi official better known as "Chemical Ali," had been killed in an air strike three days earlier.
"We have some strong indications that he was killed in the raid conducted Friday night but I can't yet absolutely confirm the fact that he is dead," Hoon told a London press conference.
Ali, a cousin of Saddam, won his grisly nickname for ordering gas attacks that killed thousands of Kurds in 1988.
Many Iraqis gave a rousing welcome to US Marines as they closed on the last 80km of their drive toward Baghdad, and there were similar scenes of jubilation in Basra.
US and British forces in southern Iraq are being bolstered by Iraqi opposition fighters, who were being flown in by the Pentagon.
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