(CNN) -- The mysterious visitor stands in a patch of scrubland in Somalia, surrounded by Islamic militants wielding AK-47s. His face is covered by a white-and-red headscarf; he is slim and seems young. But there is something puzzling about him: His skin is fair, and when he speaks in an audio recording, his English is near perfect and spoken with a North American accent. The militants -- belonging to Al-Shabaab -- say his name is Abu Abdulla Almuhajir (the foreigner). And they say he is an envoy from the al Qaeda leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, thousands of miles away in Pakistan.
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Recording, images on Islamist websites purport to show fair-skinned man fluent in English
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Al-Shabaab militants say he's from al Qaeda leader al Zawahiri, in Somalia to dispense aid
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Event suggests a strengthening of ties between Al-Shabaab and al Qaeda hard-liners
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But the identitiy of the man hasn't been determined, and the event may be a ploy
Though factions of the group have long been allied with @placeholder and share its vision of global jihad, the video of the meeting would be a rare demonstration of such ties.