RIYADH – US President Donald Trump has said that ‘Rogue killers’ could be blamed for the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as his Secretary of State headed to Riyadh in an attempt to find out what actually happened.
The comments came as Turkish police on Monday searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for the first time since Jamal Khashoggi went missing.
Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who became increasingly critical of ambitious Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has not been seen since he walked into the Istanbul consulate to sort out marriage paperwork on October 2.
Turkish officials have repeatedly said they believe he was killed despite denials by Riyadh.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/saudi-king-salman-thanks-turkish-president-for-joint-investigation-on-jamal-khashoggi-disappearance/
The controversy has dealt a massive blow to the kingdom’s image and efforts by its 32-year-old crown prince to showcase a reform drive; a report by US media also said that the journalist was intenionally killed on behest of MBS.
The US media also reported on Monday that the kingdom is considering an admission that Khashoggi died after an interrogation went wrong during an intended abduction.
Trump has now dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for what the State Department described as ‘face to face meetings with the Saudi leadership’.
The Turkish team, which arrived in a motorcade of six cars late Monday, left the premises in the early hours of Tuesday after an eight-hour search; they took samples with them, including soil from the consulate garden that was loaded into vans.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/recordings-prove-jamal-khashoggi-killed-in-saudi-consulate-report/
A Saudi delegation had entered the consulate one hour before the Turkish police arrived and appeared still to be inside as the search was conducted.
The Saudi King Salman had thanked the Turkish President Erdogan for a joint investigation into the killing that could become a new bone of contention between the two Muslim majority states.
