The gunbattle on Mount Qassioun overlooking the Syrian capital was the second such firefight with extremists in recent days and comes amid intense US pressure on Syria to stop militants slipping over its border into Iraq.

"The clash took place early on Monday on Mount Qassioun with a group of people wanted for terrorist crimes, some of whom were former bodyguards of Saddam Hussein," the former Iraqi president, the Sana agency said.

"Two terrorists were arrested after the clash," which claimed the life of security forces officer Ahmad Hijazi, it said, adding that two policemen and two other security force officers were wounded.

Quoting an information ministry official, Sana said that the two people arrested were a Jordanian named Sharif Aied Saif Smadi and the wife of his brother Mohammed, who is on the run.

The Smadi brothers are wanted in Jordan for a series of petty crimes including armed robbery. Last year, they were taken from prison to court but once there managed to escape.