Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki on Saturday started a surprise visit to the country's battlefield in Anbar province, where the security forces and allied tribal fighters have been fighting insurgent groups for weeks, an official television reported.

Maliki is expected to meet with top military and tribal leaders and will be briefed on the security situation and the development of military operations in the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, the state-run Iraqiya channel said without giving further details.

Anbar province has been the scene of fierce clashes that flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti-government protest site outside Ramadi in late December last year.