At least 30 pro-government fighters and dozens of al-Shabab militants were killed in Somalia in some of the bloodiest fighting of a year-long offensive against the al Qaeda-linked group, an army officer and clan elder said on Thursday. The clashes on Wednesday in the Shabellow forest were the latest demonstration of the uphill task Somali troops and allied militiamen face in their effort to root out al-Shabab, which has been waging an insurgency since 2006. Reporter Jamal Osman reports from Mogadishu.