Mike Pence makes an unannounced trip to Baghdad to visit US troops, Iraqi PM

United States Vice President Mike Pence landed in Baghdad on Saturday on an unannounced trip to visit the American troops stationed in the Middle East country and hold talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Pence's visit comes at a time when the entire country has been wrapped under a wave of violent anti-government protests, CNN reported.

On Friday, Iraqi security forces dispersed protesters on a bridge in central Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 26 others, security forces and activists said.

The clash between the protestors and security forces took place after a Shiite cleric, during a weekly sermon, re-emphasised calls to political parties to pass electoral reform laws and respond to the protesters' demands.

More than 300 people have been killed and 15,000 injured in Iraq since the start of anti-government protests in October, according to the Iraqi Parliamentary Human Rights Committee.

Protests have erupted in Baghdad and in several Shiite provinces in the south over unemployment, government corruption and the lack of basic services such as electricity and clean water.