Al-Qaida associates Al-Shabaab will for the first time release a video showing the face of its Commander Ahmed Omar, reports have emerged.
Mr Omar who took over from Ahmed Godan, the notorious commander killed by the US troops in 2015, has been on the hiding for four years.
According to the reports, the militant group will show the face of Omar, although they have not specified the date or even the message to be delivered.
"For the first time, Al-Shabaab will release a film showing the face of its leader Ahmed Omar Abu Ubaidah," VOA journalist Harun Maruf confirmed.
Mr Maruf is the author of best selling 'Inside Al-Shabaab' book, whose copies have been widely circulated across the world.
In his speech on September, Omar only sent an audio which was circulated to the local media. Al-Shabaab usually airs their news through affiliate media outlets.
At that time, the Al-Shabaab commander warned Kenya against the ongoing maritime border row, which has seen Somalia and Kenya lock horns at International Court of Justice.
"Hostility by Christians against Muslim society has increased. The objective of this hostility is to loot the oil wells in the country and other natural resources such as fish, and to hand our oceans over to Kenya and Ethiopia," he said.
"We tell the world that we don't compromise on our oceans and we need our society to be aware that Kenya has already engulfed a large swathe of our territory before aiming for the maritime claim."
Kenya is one of the countries which have contributed forces to AMISOM, the UN sponsored troops who have been enhancing peace and stability in Somalia.
While the group remains a threat in East Africa, it has however been neutralised, forced to retreat to remote villages in parts of Somalia, far from Mogadishu.