Four army personnel were killed and eight others wounded early Wednesday when "an armed terrorist group" attacked a military bus in a suburb of the capital Damascus, state-run SANA news agency reported.

The bus was blown up by an explosive device in Ya'four district, some 20 km southwest of Damascus, killing four and wounding eight others, according to SANA which didn't mention the ranks or identities of the personnel.

Separately, a colonel and two law-enforcement forces were killed Tuesday near Damascus by gunshots, according to SANA, noting colonel Jihad Qaddour and the two law members were attacked while on their way to a military unit in Damascus' suburbs.

Three other members were wounded and taken to a military hospital in Damascus, it added.

The Syrian government has said the turmoil in Syria is not an uprising but the work of terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs. It said a total of 2,000 army and security personnel were killed during the months-long unrest, while the United Nations put the death toll in the country at more than 5,000.