Pence makes a surprise visit to Iraq -- but 'will not meet' with country's leaders

US Vice President Mike Pence will not meet top Iraqi leaders during his surprise trip to the country on Saturday, Iraqi officials told AFP.

Pence visited US troops at the Ain al-Asad base in western Iraq and spoke to Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi by phone, two Iraqi government sources said.

"There won't be a meeting as they had a phone call," one of the sources told AFP.

The office of President Barham Saleh said it was not aware Pence was coming to Iraq and there was no meeting planned, and the US embassy in Baghdad told AFP it had no details to share.