Turkish authorities believe Khashoggi killed inside Saudi consulate

Turkish authorities believe that prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared four days ago after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, has been killed.

The Washington Post said it would be a “monstrous and unfathomable act” if he had been killed.

“The initial assessment of the Turkish police is that Mr Khashoggi has been killed at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul. We believe that the murder was premeditated and the body was subsequently moved out of the consulate,” a Turkish official told Reuters news agency on Saturday.

A Saudi source at the consulate denied that Khashoggi had been killed at the mission and said in a statement that the accusations were baseless, Reuters reported.

The suspected assassination of the leading critic of the Saudi regime came four days after he entered the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday.

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Istanbul, said there has not been any disclosure of the whereabouts his body.

“However, we have heard a funeral will take place in the coming two or three days,” he said before adding that it was unknown if Khashoggi’s body will be present at the funeral.

Turkish officials have opened an investigation and have been speaking to the media on condition of anonymity.

They have not given any evidence for their claim, nor suggested how he might have been killed.