Hudur, Somalia — The Somali army along with Southwest regional troops launched a joint military operation against Al-Shabaab in the Bakool region near Ethiopia's border.

The allied forces targeted Al-Shabaab strongholds in East and West of Wajid town, where they engaged heavy clashes with the militants, according to the residents, who spoke to Radio Shabelle by phone.

The officials leading the offensive said the SNA and their allied regional soldiers managed to destroy several Al-Shabaab bases and inflicted losses on the militants during the vast operation.

Also, the troops moved to nearby villages to degrade Al-Shabaab which controls small rural areas between the main towns in Bakool region, where the group imposed blockades.

Al-Shabaab attempted to infiltrate Ethiopia early this year after staging cross-border attacks through the Bakool region but faced stiff resistance from Liyu police which belongs to the Somali regional state.

Ethiopia says soldiers stopped attackers before they could 'wreak havoc' in the border town of Dollo in June this year.

The alleged incident in Dollo comes days after Uganda announced that 54 of its soldiers were killed in an attack on a base housing African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Somalia.