The Latest: Turkish official claims writer's body dissolved

Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Latest on the death of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi (all times local):

10:15 p.m.

A Turkish official says he believes Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's body was dissolved in acid or other chemicals after it was mutilated at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Yasin Aktay, a ruling party adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told The Associated Press on Friday that "there can be no other formula" to explain why Khashoggi's remains have not been found a month after he was killed.

Istanbul's top prosecutor said this week that Khashoggi was strangled immediately after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2 and that his body was dismembered before being disposed of.

Aktay, who was a friend of Khashoggi's, said he believes that the body was cut into pieces so that it could be dissolved in chemicals. He did not offer any proof for his comments.

Erdogan said Friday the order for Khashoggi's killing came from the highest level of the Saudi government.

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9:20 p.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the order for Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing came from the highest level of the Saudi government.

In an op-ed in The Washington Post on Friday, Erdogan says: "we must reveal the identities of the puppet masters behind Khashoggi's killing."

The Turkish president said he did not believe that Saudi King Salman had ordered the killing. He said Turkey's friendship with Riyadh did not mean that Turkey could turn a blind eye to the killing of the journalist last month in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul

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1 p.m.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi a horrendous act that "should be duly dealt with" in a way that doesn't undermine Saudi Arabia's stability.

Netanyahu said at a news conference in Bulgaria that Iran is a bigger threat than Saudi Arabia and those who want to punish the Middle East kingdom need to bear that in mind.

The Israeli leader, who attended a meeting of the prime ministers of Bulgaria, Greece and Romania and the president of Serbia at a Black Sea resort.

Netanyahu said Israel was involved in French and Danish investigations this year of alleged plots by Iranian intelligence agencies to attack Iranian opposition figures in Europe.

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.