US AND SAUDI UNITED ON FULL KHASHOGGI INQUIRY

riyadh — Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday that Saudi leaders supported a “thorough” probe into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

US President Donald Trump dispatched his secretary of state on the urgent mission to Riyadh to defuse a crisis over Khashoggi, an insider turned critic of the kingdom who was last seen on October 2 when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to sort out marriage paperwork.

Pompeo met in Riyadh with the top leadership of Saudi Arabia, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Meeting the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, Pompeo “thanked the king for his commitment to supporting a thorough, transparent and timely investigation of Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

Turkish authorities have stepped up their investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance, with police searching the Saudi consulate for eight hours into Tuesday morning, taking a sample of the garden soil.

On Tuesday, Turkish media reported that Saudi Arabia’s consul to Istanbul, Mohammed Al Otaibi, had returned to Riyadh as Turkish authorities prepared to search his residence. Police planned a second search at the Saudi consul’s home later on Tuesday. —