Saudi explanation of Khashoggi's killing dismissed as a 'cover-up' by top US senators

Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor Khashoggi vanished on 2 October after entering the consulate to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage.

Turkish intelligence have said they have audio and video recordings of Khashoggi's torture and brutal killing in the compound and are investigating a possible 15-man murder squad who are key suspects in the case.

After persistent denials of his killing and claims that Khashoggi had left the consulate alive, Saudi authorities on Saturday admitted that the journalist was killed inside its Istanbul consulate, saying he died during a "row".

Saudi Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb said Khashoggi died after talks at the consulate degenerated into an altercation. He did not disclose the whereabouts of his body.

"To say that I am sceptical of the new Saudi narrative about Mr. Khashoggi is an understatement," Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham, said on Twitter.

"First we were told Mr. Khashoggi supposedly left the consulate and there was blanket denial of any Saudi involvement. Now, a fight breaks out and he's killed in the consulate, all without knowledge of Crown Prince," Graham, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, said.

"It's hard to find this latest 'explanation' as credible," he added.

Republican Senator Bob Corker, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said he doubted the credibility of the Saudi authorities, who insisted for weeks that he left the consulate.

"The story the Saudis have told about Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance continues to change with each passing day, so we should not assume their latest story holds water," he tweeted.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal told CNN that the Saudi explanation "absolutely defies credibility", calling for an international investigation into the journalist's death.

"The Saudis very clearly seem to be buying time and buying cover. But this action raises more questions than it answers and there is no way the world will wait for 30 days for a Saudi investigation to be done," Blumenthal said.

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, meanwhile, said Riyadh's explanation of Khashoggi's death was a cover-up.

"The United States must not be complicit in this cover-up. Looking forward to what our intelligence agencies have to say," Van Hollen said.

California Representative Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said Saudi Arabia's claim that Khashoggi was "killed while brawling with a team of more than a dozen dispatched from Saudi Arabia is not credible."

He was "fighting for his life with people sent to capture or kill him," Schiff said.

US President Donald Trump said he found Saudi Arabia's explanation about the death of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi credible and termed it an "important first step."

The overnight announcements in Saudi state media came more than two weeks after Khashoggi, 59, entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul for paperwork required to marry his Turkish fiancée, and never came out.

Khashoggi had been living in self-imposed exile in the United States after fearing for his own safety in Saudi Arabia.