Myanmar military responsible for Rohingya crisis: US

Secretary of state Rex Tillerson said Myanmar's military was responsible for the Rohingya crisis, stopping short of saying whether the US would take action against the leadership in the country.

"The world can't just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in the area," he said while speaking at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.

On Tuesday, the UN said between 10,000 to 15,000 new Rohingya refugees arrived at the Bangladesh border informing that at least 582,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar so far with several thousands still stranded at the border.

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Last week the United Nations had said over 11,000 Rohingyas had crossed into Bangladesh in one day after the rate of influx had slowed to 2,000 per day.

"We really hold the military leadership accountable for what's happening," the US secretary of state said.

The United States had had earlier accused Myanmar of "ethnic cleansing" of minority Rohingya Muslims, saying the bloodshed in Rakhine state had shamed Aung Sang Suu Kyi's government.

"Someone, if these reports are true, is going to be held to account for that," Tillerson said.

"And it’s up to the military leadership of Myanmar to decide, 'What direction do they want to play in the future of Myanmar?" he asserted.