Rohingya crisis: Suu Kyi says 'all in Rakhine defended'

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Image captionMs Suu Kyi has faced growing criticism over her response to the Rohingya crisis

In her first comments on Myanmar's latest Rohingya crisis, de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi says her government is protecting everyone in Rakhine state.

But she criticised the "huge iceberg of misinformation" about the conflict promoting the interests of terrorists.

Ms Suu Kyi made the comments in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, her office said.

More than 123,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar's northern Rakhine state into Bangladesh in the last two weeks.

It is the latest in a series of conflicts that has sent waves of refugees fleeing the country, which is also called Burma.

The Rohingya are a stateless mostly Muslim ethnic minority who have faced persecution in Myanmar.

The Nobel laureate has faced criticism for not speaking out on the latest violence.

• What sparked latest violence in Rakhine?

• Who will help Myanmar's Rohingya?

The latest government statement, carried by local media, said Ms Suu Kyi told Mr Erdogan that her government had "already started defending all the people in Rakhine in the best way possible".

Ms Suu Kyi is quoted as saying: "We know very well, more than most, what it means to be deprived of human rights and democratic protection.

"So we make sure that all the people in our country are entitled to protection of their rights as well as, the right to, and not just political but social and humanitarian defence The statement also said there were many fake news photographs circulating which were "simply the tip of a huge iceberg of misinformation calculated to create a lot of problems between different communities and with the aim of promoting the interest of the terrorists".

• Who are the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army?
• How fake photos fuel the conflict violence

The latest conflict began on 25 August when Rohingya militants attacked police posts, triggering a military counter-offensive that has forced a flood of Rohingya civilians to head across the border to Bangladesh.

Many of those who have left describe troops and Rakhine Buddhist mobs razing their villages and killing civilians in a campaign to drive them out.