Saudi Arabia has now claimed that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered during a 'rogue operation'. The death had caused international outcry and resulted in strained diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
The kingdom has been under tremendous international pressure to explain what happened. The government had earlier claimed that Khashoggi was alive.
Khashoggi had gone missing on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul seeking some papers needed for his marriage to his Turkish fiance. Saudi Arabia had initially claimed that the journalist had left the consulate unharmed but on Friday admitted for the first time that he was dead.
Saudi Arabia claimed that Khashoggi was killed during a "brawl" with officials inside the consulate. But the claim combined with the absence of the body has resulted in skepticism and scorn from many, including staunch allies.
Saudi Arabia's claims were not bought by Turkish officials who believe that Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Saudi government, was killed by a team of Saudi agents inside the building.
Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News the act was a "tremendous mistake" and denied the influential crown prince ordered the killing.
"We are determined to find out all the facts. And we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder," he said.
"The individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their authority," he added. "There obviously was a tremendous mistake made, and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up."
He also said that they did not know where the body was, and insisted the action was not ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, seen as Saudi Arabia's most influential figure.
Saudi Arabia says it arrested 18 people, sacked two aides of Mohammed bin Salman and set up a body, under his leadership, to reform the intelligence agency following the incident.
Both King Salman and the crown prince called Khashoggi's son on Sunday to express their condolences over his death, the Saudi Press Agency reports.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to reveal within days the "naked truth" over the death of Jamal Khashoggi. "We are looking for justice here and this will be revealed in all its naked truth, not through some ordinary steps but in all its naked truth," Erdogan told a rally in Istanbul.
In his strongest comments to date on the affair, President Donald Trump accused Saudi Arabia of lying about the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who fell out of favour with the ultraconservative kingdom, as pressure built on the US administration to strike a tougher line.
A growing chorus of US lawmakers including several from President Donald Trump's Republican Party have criticised the Saudi leadership over the affair, but Jubeir was confident the US-Saudi relationship would survive the crisis.
"The strategic relationship is important for both countries," he said. "I believe when the investigation is over and the facts are revealed, people know who is responsible and see those individuals punished, that the relationship will weather this."
Britain was among the latest countries to question Riyadh's version of events. "I don't think it's credible," Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC on Sunday, adding there was a "serious question mark over the account that has been given". "We support the Turkish investigation into it and the British government wants to see people held to account for that death."
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said many questions remained unanswered while German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged transparency, adding that "available reports on what happened in the Istanbul consulate are insufficient." She also said that Berlin would not export arms to Saudi Arabia for now in the wake of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi's violent death.
"I agree with all those who say when it comes to our already limited arms exports (to Saudi Arabia) that they cannot take place in the current situation," she told reporters at her party headquarters.
The EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini and UN chief Antonio Guterres both called for a proper investigation and for the perpetrators to be held to account.
Senior Republican Senator Marco Rubio was stark in his assessment. "Saudi Arabia's changing stories on #KhashoggiMurder is getting old. The latest one about a fist fight gone bad is bizarre," he tweeted Saturday, renewing his call for sanctions against those responsible.
Trump initially said he found the Saudi explanation credible, but later expressed more scepticism—although he warned against scrapping a multibillion-dollar arms deal with the conservative kingdom.
"No, I am not satisfied until we find the answer," he told reporters. "It was a big first step. It was a good first step. But I want to get to the answer." Saudi Arabia's Gulf ally, the United Arab Emirates, welcomed the Saudi disclosures, as did Egypt, Kuwait and Oman.
The front pages of Saudi newspapers on Sunday were branded with headlines of support for the kingdom's government.
Khashoggi, who would have been 60 this month, sought refuge in the United States after fleeing his native Saudi Arabia after the 2017 appointment of strongman Mohammed bin Salman as heir to the throne.
The journalist, who had espoused both Islamist and liberal views throughout his decades-long career in the press, was engaged to a Turkish woman.
His killing has further soured relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, already at loggerheads over Qatar, with which Riyadh cut ties in 2017 and to which Ankara has deployed aid and troops.
