Scores killed in clashes between Somali forces and al Shabaab

By Abdi Sheikh

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Dozens of fighters were killed in clashes on Monday in the southern tip of Somalia when al Shabaab militants tried to overrun three army bases, officials and the insurgent group said.

A local security official said government forces repulsed the attacks and safely detonated four car bombs around 80 km (50 miles) southwest of the port city of Kismayo in Jubbaland state.

Videos posted by Jubbaland officials on social media showed at least 35 bodies in a mix of military fatigues near the village of Buulo-Xaaji.

"We thank the federal and Jubbaland forces who killed over 80 al Shabaab fighters and took their weapons," the government said in a statement on the state-owned Somalia National News Agency (SONNA).

The government and al Shabaab often provide wildly differing accounts of the casualties on each side.

Farah Hussein, a military official, said five soldiers were killed.

"We got the information that al Shabaab was coming, we deserted the three bases and then encircled their fighters, killing dozens of them. I counted 30 dead al Shabaab and I could see even more bodies lying ahead of me," Hussein told Reuters.

Al Shabaab said on an affiliated radio station that it had stormed the bases and killed dozens of soldiers.

The area near the Kenyan border, in the traditional heartland of al Shabaab's territory, was captured by government forces three months ago. The Qaeda-linked al Shabaab has been fighting to impose a strict form of Islamic law throughout the country since 2007.

(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Editing by Hereward Holland)