Burma's Suu Kyi in junta meeting

Witnesses said Ms Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years, spent about one hour in talks at a military building in Rangoon.

It is thought she met Aung Kyi, the labour minister appointed as a liaison last year amid global outrage at the military regime's repression.

If confirmed, it would be the fourth time the pair have held talks.

Ms Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said last month that meetings with the junta had so far yielded little.

The country's generals came under sustained international pressure late last year after brutally suppressing peaceful demonstrations.

The EU and US both introduced a raft of new sanctions and UN diplomats engaged in frantic diplomacy in a bid to rein in the generals.

But most Asian leaders have been reluctant to criticise the regime, and there have been few signs of genuine reform in Burma.