The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources on the ground for its reports, was unable however to say how they were killed or supply their nationalities.
"Unidentified attackers murdered five nuclear energy engineers who worked in the scientific research centre near the neighbourhood of Barzeh, northern Damascus," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
"It was not immediately clear whether the bus that they were travelling on was hit by a bomb, or by gunfire," Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Another military research centre, also near Damascus, was also hit by a deadly Israeli raid in May 2013.