Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi says her Government is doing its best to protect everyone in the strife-torn state of Rakhine, as the estimated number of Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh leapt by 18,000 in one day, to 164,000.

Key points: Aung San Suu Kyi says her Government is trying its best to stop violence

Aung San Suu Kyi says her Government is trying its best to stop violence Myanmar negotiating with Russia, China to block any UN censure

Myanmar negotiating with Russia, China to block any UN censure US voices concerns over allegations of human rights abuses

Ms Suu Kyi did not refer specifically to the exodus of the minority Rohingya, which was sparked by insurgent attacks on August 25 and an army counter-offensive, but said her administration was trying its best to take care of all citizens.

Western critics have accused Ms Suu Kyi of not speaking out for the Rohingya, some 1.1 million people who have long complained of persecution and are seen by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

Some have called for the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 as a champion of democracy to be revoked.

"We have to take care of our citizens, we have to take care of everybody who is in our country, whether or not they are our citizens," Ms Suu Kyi told India's Asian News International.

"Of course, our resources are not as complete and adequate as we would like them to be but, still, we try our best and we want to make sure that everyone is entitled to the protection of the law," she said during a visit by Indian Prime Narendra Modi to Yangon.

Buildings in Rakhine's Gawdu Zara village burn. ( AP )

Ms Suu Kyi on Tuesday blamed "terrorists" for "a huge iceberg of misinformation" on the strife in the north-western state of Rakhine but made no mention of the Rohingya who have fled.

She has come under increasing pressure from countries with Muslim populations, and this week UN Security Council secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned there was a risk of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar that could destabilise the region.

In Washington, the US State Department voiced its concern "following serious allegations of human rights abuses including mass burnings of Rohingya villages and violence conducted by security forces and also armed civilians".

"We urge all in Burma including in the Rakhine state to avoid actions that exacerbate tensions there," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters.

The US ambassador has met Myanmar officials to discuss "allegations of violence conducted by both the security forces and civilians" and access for humanitarian groups, she said.

Thousands of Myanmar's Rohingya ethnic minority have been fleeing the country in recent weeks. ( AP: Bernat Armangue )

Myanmar forces fighting 'terrorism'

Myanmar has said it is negotiating with China and Russia to ensure they block any Security Council censure over the crisis.

Ms Suu Kyi said the situation in Rakhine has been difficult for many decades and so it was "a little unreasonable" to expect her administration, which has been in power for 18 months, to have resolved it already.

Myanmar says its forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against terrorists responsible for a string of attacks on the police and army since last October.

Officials blame Rohingya militants for killing non-Muslims and burning their homes.

"We need to wipe out the threat of the terrorism in those regions," Ko Ko Hlaing, a presidential adviser of the previous government said on Thursday at a forum arranged by military-owned media to discuss the crisis.

He said rehabilitation and development are important and the citizenship issue must be settled, but the first priority needed to be "the detoxification of dangerous ideology of extremism".

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been in Myanmar this week to meet Aung San Suu Kyi. ( AP )

'Bengalis burning their houses'

Ms Suu Kyi's spokesman, Zaw Htay, on Thursday posted what he said were "photos of Bengalis setting fire to their houses".

The pictures of several sword-wielding women wearing headscarfs and men in Islamic prayer caps, or "Kufi", setting a house on fire, which were published in one of the country's leading newspapers, were also shared widely by the military.

"These photos showing that Bengalis are torching their houses emerge at a time when international media have made groundless accusations of setting fire to Bengali houses by the government security forces and the killings of Bengalis," said the Eleven Media daily.

But the photographs sparked controversy on social media with many people who identified themselves as Myanmar Muslims saying they appeared staged.

Rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say the Myanmar army has been trying to force them out of Rakhine state with a campaign of arson and killings.

UN officials in Bangladesh now believe the total number of refugees from Myanmar since August 25 could reach 300,000.

The surge of refugees — many sick or injured — has strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar.

Many have no shelter, and aid agencies are racing to provide clean water, sanitation and food.

Sorry, this video has expired Reports of villagers slaughtered in Myanmar massacre

Reuters