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Syrian government troops have seized a town near Damascus, killing at least 80 people, including women and children, BBC reported, citing opposition activists. 

The army stormed the town of Jdaidet al-Fadl after five days of heavy fighting, they report.

Syria's Sana state news agency said government forces "inflicted heavy losses upon terrorists" in the town.

At least 70,000 people have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.

The latest killings come as the army tries to break a ring of rebel-held areas around Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group, said it was able to identify at least 80 people killed in Jdaidet al-Fadl, to the south-west of the capital.

The SOHR - which has also released footage of the bloodshed - said some of the victims were summarily killed. There were reports of as many as 250 deaths, it added.

The organisation documents and reports incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict and says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be verified.

Meanwhile, Reuters news agency quoted an activist in a nearby area as saying that 85 people had been summarily killed in the town.

Abu Ahmad al-Rabi said this included "28 shot at a makeshift hospital after Assad's forces went in Jdaidet al-Fadl."

"We fear that the victims of the massacre are much higher," the activist added.

The Sana news agency confirmed the fighting had taken place in Jdaidet al-Fadl.