BAGHDAD - US Vice President Mike Pence met Iraqi Kurdish leaders during a surprise visit to Iraq Saturday but avoided traveling to Baghdad for security reasons, as deadly anti-government protests have highlighted Washington's diminished influence.

In his first visit as vice president, Pence visited American troops at Ain al-Asad base in western Iraq's Anbar province and also traveled to Arbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdish region, for talks with officials there.

But Pence "couldn't go to Baghdad for security reasons", a US official accompanying him on the trip told reporters.

The trip came after weeks of anti-government rallies across Baghdad and the south.

Iraqi officials told AFP that Pence spoke to Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi by telephone.

"There won't be a meeting as they had a phone call. The prime minister isn't going to Anbar" to meet Pence, one source said.

President Barham Saleh's office told AFP it had not been aware Pence was coming to Iraq and had no meeting planned. The US embassy said it had no details to share.

The US official said Pence "encouraged the Iraqi government to disassociate itself with Iran", which holds tremendous sway in Baghdad but which Iraqi protesters accuse of overreach.

From Ain Al-Asad, Pence traveled to the capital of the Kurdish region Arbil to meet its President Nechirvan Barzani and prime minister Masrour Barzani.

He later tweeted that the visit to President Barzani was "on behalf" of Trump, and another US official said it was meant to "affirm our gratitude and resolve to continue to stand with our Kurdish allies".

Syrian Kurds had felt betrayed last month after the United States, allies in the fight against the Islamic State group, announced a troop pullout that paved the way for a Turkish offensive against them.

Pence tweeted images of himself and his wife speaking to US forces and carrying a roast turkey, traditionally served during the American Thanksgiving holiday celebrated next week.

"Happy Thanksgiving from Iraq. @SecondLady and I are so honored to be with our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines here in Iraq!" he tweeted.

The visit echoed President Donald Trump's own surprise trip to Ain Al-Asad a year ago, where he briefly met troops just after Christmas but controversially did not see officials in Baghdad.

Trump's visit was veiled in such secrecy that there was speculation most Iraqi authorities had not been told he was coming.

Pence's trip came as the death toll from weeks of anti-government rallies across Iraq's capital and the south rose even further.

Two protesters were killed and dozens were wounded in clashes with security forces Saturday on the Al-Ahrar bridge in Baghdad, a medical source said.

Demonstrators have massed on three main bridges leading from their protest camp in Tahrir (Liberation) Square to the western bank of the river Tigris, where government offices and foreign embassies are based. -AFP