Tillerson in Myanmar to press Suu Kyi and army on Rohingya

NAYPYIDAW: Washington's top diplomat arrived in Myanmar Wednesday to press civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's powerful army chief over violence-torn Rakhine state, where troops are accused of atrocities against Rohingya Muslims.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's one-day stop in the capital Naypyidaw comes as global outrage builds over an army clampdown that has driven more than 600,000 Rohingya out of the mainly Buddhist country since late August.

While Myanmar's military insists it has only targeted Rohingya rebels, refugees massing in grim Bangladeshi camps have described chilling and consistent accounts of widespread murder, rape and arson at the hands of security forces.

The UN has said the army campaign likely amounts to ethnic cleansing of a minority that has faced years of systematic oppression.

Tillerson's first stop in Myanmar was a closed-door meeting with army commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, who he spoke with in one of the capital's massive, marble-floored halls.

Ahead of the face-to-face a senior US State Department official said Tillerson would urge the general to rein in violence, make it safe for Rohingya to return and allow a "credible investigation" into abuses.

The official did not comment on whether the diplomat would raise the threat of military sanctions -- which US lawmakers have pushed for back home.

"We think Burma (Myanmar) has made a lot of progress in the past few years and we would not want to see that progress reversed because of an inadequate response to a crisis like this," the official said.