The local forces backed by international partners killed the militants who had burned down a commuter bus when escaping from the battlefield, the Commander for the Infantry Mohamed Tahlil Bihi told the state-run Radio Mogadishu on Monday.
"Our forces are making progress on the war against terrorists on several fronts," said Bihi.
The fighting came a day after the militant group carried out a deadly attack on Sunday in Somalia's capital Mogadishu.
The al-Shabaab terrorist group stormed a military base in central Somalia that the government had recaptured from them last year, killing at least seven soldiers, including the base commander, an officer said.
Assailants from the al-Qaeda affiliate rammed the base in the village of Hawadley with a suicide car bomb on Tuesday and then opened fire.