DAMASCUS - A journalist of Syria's state TV was killed Thursday by armed groups in a restive district in the Syrian capital Damascus, state-run SANA news agency said.

Basel Tawfiq Yussif was killed in the unrest-battered district of Tadamun in Damascus.

A statement appeared online allegedly by rebels claimed responsibility for the assassination and titled "the Shabih journalist Basel Tawfiq Yussif has been liquidated".

Shabih is a term that the anti-government rebels and opponents use to describe government supporters and pro-government militia.

Many Syrian journalists have been killed during Syria's 20-month crisis. Targeting journalists in Syria is a new precedent during the crisis.