"A security services patrol this morning was ambushed by a terrorist armed gang at an intersection in the village of Ghajar, near Homs," state news agency SANA said., quoting a military official.

It said three members of the patrol were killed in the attack and buried shortly thereafter.

Homs, the third largest city in Syria, since April has been swept into the pro-democracy protests that gripped the country in mid-March.
At least 18 people were killed in and around the city last Friday and Saturday in one of the bloodiest weekends since the unrest broke out.

According to rights activists, at least 1,062 civilians have died and 10,000 have been detained in the fierce government crackdown on protesters demanding reform.
The government insists the unrest sweeping the country is the work of "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign agitators.

It has prevented foreign journalists from traveling throughout the country to report on the violence.