According to officials, the battle was very intense lasting for many hours with both sides losing military vehicles in the clashes.

The government officials said that the surprise attack occurred in Walaweyn district in the neighboring region of Lower Shabelle and crossed over to Hiraan region, adding that casualties are still unconfirmed.

Col. Abukar Yarow who spoke to media on Tuesday said that Somali government forces in Hiraan region repelled the attack by Al Shabaab.

"I cannot state the amount of casualties right now. We were successful in deterring the attack by the terror agents," said Col. Yarow.

Al Shabaab announced that they had destroyed many vehicles in their ambush on Tuesday but did not state the amount of casualties.

According to witnesses, there were both civilian and non-civilian bodies in the carnage.

The battle comes a week after Somali and AMISOM forces captured the district of Walaweyn, which prior to last week was an Al Shabaab stronghold.

This is the biggest battle as of yet to occur in Hiraan and the Lower Shabelle region since the capture of the two regions by Ethiopian and AMISOM forces in December 2011. Since withdrawing from Mogadishu last year, Al Shabaab militants have vowed to continue fighting Somali government forces and allied AMISOM and Ethiopian forces.

Both the newly elected Somali Federal Government and African Union forces have not commented about Tuesday's battle.

The Shabelle River transverses through Beledweyne and the trading town near the Somali-Ethiopian border is recovering from flooding due to heavy seasonal rains that have destroyed homes and farms. The heavy rains continued on Tuesday.