Trump's deputy visits US troops in Iraq amid anti-government unrest

US Vice President Mike Pence visited US troops inIraq during a surprise visit to the protest-hit country on Saturday.The Iraqi government said Pence inspected US troops at the Ainal-Assad base in western Iraq who are taking part in an internationalalliance fighting Islamic State militants. Pence and his wife Karen Pence met with US forces and offered themgreetings ahead of Thanksgiving Day. "Happy Thanksgiving from Iraq. @SecondLady and I are so honoured tobe with our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines here in Iraq,"Pence wrote on Twitter. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi had a phone conversation withPence on developments in Iraq and the government's efforts to respondto the demands of protesters, the premier's office said in astatement. Earlier on Saturday, Iraqi government sources said Pence would meetAbdel-Mahdi and other top Iraqi leaders in Baghdad.Street protests have raged in Iraq since early October, withdemonstrators calling for the resignation of the government, thedissolution of parliament and an overhaul of the country's politicalsystem, which has been in place since the 2003 US-led invasion of thecountry.Around 330 people, mostly protesters, have died in the demonstrationswhich have mainly affected Baghdad and the oil-rich south, accordingto the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights. Several rights groups have accused the Iraqi security forces of usingexcessive violence to quell the protests.The demonstrations are Iraq's largest since December 2017 whenBaghdad declared the liberation of all territory previously under thecontrol of Islamic State militants in a US-backed military campaign.