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Reports claim Jamal Khashoggi's dismembered body found

Turkish forensic arrive at an underground car park cordoned off by Turkish police after they found an abandoned car belonging to the Saudi consulate | AFP

According to a UK-based broadcaster, the body parts of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi were found at the home of Saudi consul general in Istanbul. Sky news said Khashoggi's body had been "cut up" and his face was "disfigured".

Sky news quotes two sources whose statements contradict those made by the Saudi officials that the body was rolled up in a carpet and handed to a local collaborator who was tasked with disposing of the evidence.

One of the sources said that the writer's remains were found in the garden of the consul general's home, which is just 500 metres away from the consulate.

Meahwhile, Turkish politician Dogu Perincek said that Khashoggi's dismembered body was recovered from a well at the Saudi consul general’s Istanbul residence.

“Reliable sources from the Istanbul security service told me that the body of Khashoggi was found in a well, which is located in a garden in the residence of the Saudi consul general,” Perincek, leader of the Patriotic Party in Turkey, told Sputnik news agency.

The news broke soon after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Saudi Arabia of premeditated murder. He said there can be no cover up in the case and asked Riyadh to extradite 18 suspects. He asked Saudi Arabia to reveal more details, including where Jamal Khashoggi's body was disposed. "Why has the body of someone who was officially said to be killed not been found yet?" asked Erdogan.

British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Tuesday: "I am aware of the reports, they are deeply disturbing ... the location of Mr Khashoggi's body is just one of the questions we need answers to and as such we await the full results of the Turkish investigation."

Jamal Khashoggi—a fierce critic of Riyadh's human rights violations and of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's policies—disappeared after entering the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2 for paperwork needed for his planned marriage.

Earlier, there were reports that Jamal Khashoggi's severed fingers were taken back to Saudi Arabia and presented to the Crown Prince as a "macabre trophy" after the murder.