Mogadishu, Apr 16 (IANS): Somali National Army (SNA) has killed at least nine al-Shabab militants and injured more after conducting an operation near Janale town in southern Somalia, officials said.

The Chief of Defence Forces Odowaa Yusuf Rage told the Somali national news agency on Saturday that their forces took swift action against the militants who ambushed a convoy of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), nearly 90 km south of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

"Our forces killed at least nine terrorist militants who carried out an ambush attack on ATMIS convoy along the road between Bufow location and Janale district. Intelligence reports helped the army to defeat the militants," Odowaa said.

He did not comment on if there were casualties of SNA soldiers during the operation, Xinhua news agency reported.

The latest onslaught on al-Shabab extremists comes a week after the Somali government and local forces launched the second phase of the offensive operation against the group in the Hiraan and Galgudud regions in central Somalia, respectively.