A Syrian journalist working for a government newspaper was killed in a south Damascus neighbourhood on Tuesday, state television announced.

"An armed terrorist group assassinated the journalist Naji Assaad in the Tadamun district of Damascus as he was on his way to the Tishreen newspaper," the broadcaster said.

A retired journalist in his sixties, Assaad contributed articles to Tishreen, the last of which was published on Monday, an official at the paper said.

The killing marked the second of a journalist in Tadamun in less than a fortnight. The neighbourhood has been plagued by intermittent battles between rebels and government forces since mid-summer.