Riyadh: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Crown Prince and other key officials here on Tuesday over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi who Turkish officials say was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Pompeo’s visit came as diplomatic pressure mounted on Riyadh to give a fuller explanation in the case. According to a report in CNN, Saudi Arabia was preparing to acknowledge that Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a Saudi royal insider-turned-critic, was killed during an interrogation that went wrong.
The journalist’s family has called for an international inquiry into his disappearance.
Pompeo had a short discussion with King Salman before a longer meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler. He was due to meet the Crown Prince again for dinner.
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo “thanked the King for his commitment to supporting a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation” of the Khashoggi case and expressed “concern” about the case to the Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, said Turkish officials, who searched the consulate for nine hours on Monday, were looking into “toxic” and “painted over material” as part of their probe.
Turkish investigators were also expected to carry out a search of the Saudi Consul General’s residence in Istanbul.
Khashoggi was last seen in public when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 for paperwork needed for his planned marriage.
Turkish intelligence officials say they have audio and visual evidence that shows Khashoggi, a permanent resident of the US in self-imposed exile, was killed inside the consulate.
However, Saudi authorities maintain that Khashoggi left the consulate the same afternoon but have provided no evidence to support the claim.