Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrived on her first visit to conflict-battered northern Rakhine State on Thursday, an official said, an area that has seen most of its Rohingya Muslim population forced out by an army campaign.

"The State Counsellor (Suu Kyi's official title) is now in Sittwe and will go to Muangdaw and Buthiduang too. It will be a day trip," government spokesman Zaw Htay told AFP, mentioning two of the epicentres of the violence but without elaborating on the full schedule of the unannounced visit