San Salvador, August 6 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Suspected Salvadoran gang members continue to carry out killings in the capital and across the country, instilling fear and violence.  On Wednesday, they attacked a bus, killing four people and injuring seven, while separately they are believed to have killed a police officer, a woman and her two children.

The bus incident occurred just outside the capital on a rural highway, some 16 miles from San Salvador, where the driver, a fare collector, an army corporal and a passenger were killed, according to authorities. 

Bus transport around the violent Central American country was suspended last week for four days, after gang threats and violence left eight bus drivers dead. The government deployed more security forces to guard the safety of buses as the service resumed Friday.  Government officials said the boycott was part of a right-wing movement to destabilize the country. 

The gangs tried to use the transport boycott as a tactic to force the government into easing up on police operations against them and to secure better conditions for their members in jail.

On Tuesday, gang members ambushed police, killing two, injuring one. The criminal gangs have killed 39 police officers this year. 

According to a report by the country's Interior Ministry, over 10 percent of El Salvador's population of about 5 million inhabitants is in a gang.  Official figures show that during the first semester of 2015, 2,865 homicides have been reported. This is a 34 percent increase from the same period in 2014 when 1,840 homicides took place.