WASHINGTON: US Secre­tary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Saudi Arabia on Monday to get more information about the missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly from King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the State Department said.

Mr Khashoggi disappeared early this month from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he had gone to collect a document for marrying his Turkish fiancee.

“At the request of President Trump, Secretary Pompeo will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, today,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told journalists in Washington.

“The president has called for a prompt and open investigation into the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” she said.

Pakistan urges countries concerned to wait for the outcome of investigation

Meanwhile, CNN claimed on Monday that the Saudi authorities are preparing a statement admitting Jamal Khashoggi had been killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The report, citing two unidentified sources, cautioned at the same time that the Saudis could still change their mind as the statement has not been released yet.

The statement is likely to claim that Mr Khashoggi died during interrogation that went wrong, CNN reported.

In Washington, Mr Trump suggested that “rogue killers” were behind Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance.

In a brief chat with White House reporters, the president said: “Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened ‘to our Saudi Arabian citizen’.”

The king told Mr Trump that “we are working closely with Turkey to find answer. “I am immediately sending our Secre­tary of State to meet with King,” Mr Trump said.

He indicated that the Saudi denial was so strong, he was inclined to believe the king.

“It wasn’t like there was a question in his mind. The denial was very strong,” he said.

“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers, who knows. We are going to try to get to the bottom of it very soon,” Mr Trump said. “But his was a flat denial.”

Saudi authorities insist that Mr Khashoggi left the consulate on Oct 2 afternoon, soon after he arrived there to collect the document. Saudi authorities, however, have provided no evidence to support the claim.

Mr Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside the consulate, told reporters she did not see him re-emerge.

Turkish authorities also have rejected the Saudi claim, saying that they have audio and visual evidence showing that Mr Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate.

They suggested that 15 Saudi men, who arrived in Istanbul on Oct 2, were involved in Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance and possible murder.

Turkish officials also claimed that some of those 15 Saudi men had high-level connections in the Saudi government.

In an interview to CBS “60 Minutes”, broadcast on Sunday night, President Trump acknowledged that there was “something really terrible and disgusting” about Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment.”

Saudi officials threatened to retaliate if the US imposed sanctions but the threat failed to defuse mounting international pressure to explain the journalist’s disappearance. Britain, France and Germany have demanded a “credible investigation” into the events.

APP adds: In Islamabad, the Foreign Office welcomed efforts of Saudi Arabia and Turkey to jointly investigate the disappearance of Mr Khashoggi and expressed the hope that the two brotherly countries would be able to address the matter.

The FO spokesman responding to a query about Pakistan’s stance on the issue said: “We understand that the investigation was ongoing and it would therefore be appropriate to await the outcome.”

He said Pakistan had a close and fraternal relationship with both Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018