Israeli armed forces on Sunday killed four people when they tried to plant bombs near the Golan Heights on the country's border with war-torn Syria, a security source said.

The incident occurred at night near the town of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli occupied Golan, the source told AFP.

The army said on its official Twitter account that the operation targeted "terrorists" armed with explosives who "were en route to imminent attack on our forces. Our air force neutralised threat".

It made no mention of any casualties, however.