Baidoa — Military commanders in Somalia government are claiming the upper hand of a heavy combat against Al shabab militants tied to Al Qaeda near Baidoa, situated 256 kilometers (159 mi) northwest of the capital Mogadishu.

Aden Doodshe, the police commissioner of Bay region for Somali government, told Shabelle Media by phone that TFG forces have killed many Al shabab combatants while several others captured in a live during a fighting took place on Tuesday on the outskirts of Baidoa town, the third largest city in Somalia.

"Our troops carried out coordinated military operations at rebel-held villages close Baidoa on Tuesday, to wipe out Al-Shabaab in the entire region of Bay, and had left fighters of the Al-Qaeda linked extremist group in disarray after losing ground and military equipment," he added.

He stressed that the operation would continue until Al-Shabab was wiped out or too weakened to launch any significant attack in the government controlled territories in South Somalia.

Last December, Ethiopian forces, fighting alongside pro-TFG militias in Somalia managed to remove Al-Shabaab fighters from Baledweyne town in Hiran region, then Baidoa in south-central Somalia.

No Al shabab official was available to reach for comments on the Somali military claims.