Mogadishu — Heavy armed Al shabab fighters reportedly ambushed a military convoy carrying Ethiopian forces outside Baidoa, Somalia's third largest city, 250 Km northwest Mogadishu.

Local residents said Shells and gunfire heard around Awdinle, a small town just 15Km east of Baidoa following the ambush attack on Eithopian forces on Monday, causing indefinite casualties on both sides.

"I saw an Ethiopian military vehicle burning and dead bodies lying nearby a roadside explosion site at Awdinle area, after the fighting stopped," said one resident.

In the aftermath of the attack, Mahad Abdirahman Aden, said Ethiopian troops fired rounds of mortars indiscriminately on a residential area, killing dozens of innocent civilians in Awdinle.

Ambushes and roadside bombs are the remnants of an Islamist movement that was ousted by the government and its Ethiopian allies in February at the start of this year.