Pompeo arrives in Riyadh for talks on missing journalist

RIYADH:
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the Saudi capital on Tuesday for talks with King Salman on what happened to missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

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The US chief diplomat was greeted at Riyadh airport by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and ambassador to Washington Prince Khalid bin Salman, an AFP correspondent reported.

Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who became increasingly critical of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has not been seen since he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to sort out marriage paperwork.

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Turkish police on Monday searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for the first time since Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who became increasingly critical of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, went missing. He has not been seen since he walked into the Istanbul consulate to sort out marriage paperwork on October 2.

The team, which arrived in a motorcade of six cars late Monday, left the premises in the early hours of Tuesday after an an eight-hour search, an AFP correspondent said.

They took samples with them, including soil from the consulate garden that was loaded into vans, one official at the scene said.

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 search came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and King Salman also had their first telephone talks since the controversy erupted, in what appeared to be a conciliatory conversation, according to official readouts.

Turkish officials have said they believe he was killed - a claim Saudi Arabia has denied - with the controversy dealing a huge blow to the kingdom's image and efforts by its youthful crown prince to showcase a reform drive.

King Salman emphasised the importance of the Turkey-Saudi relationship and said no one should be able to "undermine the strength of this relationship", Saudi's official media reported.