"In a horrific crime, eight students were killed along with one of their teachers in Bteiha school in the Wafideen camp near Damascus.

They were killed by a mortar launched by terrorists," said the broadcaster.

The Wafideen camp is located some 20 kilometres (15 miles) northeast of Damascus.

It is home to some 25,000 people displaced from the Golan heights, occupied by Israel since 1967.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the report.

Battles east of Damascus have grown especially bloody in recent days, as troops try to fight off rebels in the Eastern Ghouta region as they inch closer to the capital.