Saudi Arabia refuses Turkey's bid to extradite Khashoggi murder suspects as Erdogan demands kingdom reveals 'local co-operator's identity and says he has more information about the journalist's death

Ankara has demanded that 18 suspects including a 'hit squad' are handed over

But the Saudi foreign minister slammed 'media hysteria' over Khashoggi's death

Journalist's fiancee has refused an invite to the White House from Donald Trump

Published: 04:52 EDT, 27 October 2018 | Updated: 05:38 EDT, 27 October 2018

The suspected killers of journalist Jamal Khashoggi will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom has said, refusing calls from Turkey for their extradition.

Ankara has demanded that 18 Saudi suspects are handed over to Turkish prosecutors investigating Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

The suspects include a 15-man security team claimed by Turkey to have flown in hours before the killing and carried it out.

But Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir today said the investigation would take time and blasted what he called 'media hysteria' over Khashoggi's death.

Turkish investigators inspect a sewer near the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. They have demanded the extradition of 18 suspects but Riyadh says it will prosecute them

'I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete,' he said.

'We're trying to uncover what happened. We know that a mistake was committed. We know that people exceeded their authority and we know that we're investigating them.

'The individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia.'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had more information than it had shared so far about the killing of Khashoggi, which has strained Riyadh's relations with the West.

He demanded that the Gulf kingdom reveal the identity of the 'local cooperator' who Saudi officials earlier said had taken charge of Khashoggi's body from Saudi agents.

Police in Istanbul have continued their search for evidence as vans were seen taking samples of water from the consulate's sewer system.

On Saturday U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the furore undermined regional stability and said Washington would take measures against the killers.

'Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most,' he said.

The Saudi public prosecutor said on Thursday that the killing was premeditated, contradicting the kingdom's earlier claims that he died accidentally during a tussle in the consulate.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir (left) today said the investigation would take time, as the kingdom refused demands from Turkish President Erdogan (right) to extradite 18 suspects

Saudi officials initially denied having anything to do with Khashoggi's disappearance after he entered the consulate.

The Washington Post columnist had been visiting the consulate to obtain paperwork for a planned marriage.

Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said she did not accept an invitation from President Donald Trump to visit the White House.

The kingdom's shifting explanations of Khashoggi's killing have stirred scepticism in the West and many suspect that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved.

Khashoggi was a prominent critic of the prince and a former head of MI6 has said the evidence pointed to his involvement.

His condemnation of the killing as 'heinous' and 'painful' has so far failed to ease suspicions that such a high-level operation could have been carried out without his knowledge.

Trump is a staunch ally of Riyadh but said the kingdom had staged the 'worst cover-up ever' over the killing.

Prince Mohammed, Riyadh's de facto ruler who casts himself as a reformer, has said the killers will be brought to justice.

Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi (pictured) had been visiting the consulate in Istanbul to obtain paperwork for a planned marriage when he was killed on October 2

Saudi Arabia says 18 people have been arrested and five senior government officials have been sacked as part of the investigation.

Erdogan said he had spoken with Prince Mohammed, saying: 'I also told the crown prince. You know how to make people talk.

'Whatever happened between these 18 people, this dodgy business is among them. If you are determined to lift suspicion, then the key point of our cooperation is these 18 people.'

Pressure is also growing for the European Union to consider an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia after Germany, Austria and the European Parliament called for an end to weapons sales.

Germany has suspended arms sales but French President Emmanuel Macron said such moves smacked of populist 'demagoguery'.

Last week UK shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Britain must apply the same standards to Saudi Arabia as it does to Russia over Khashoggi's death.

The UK had a 'blind spot' on Saudi Arabia and needed to hold the Gulf Kingdom to account, she said.

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi: Key moments surrounding the writer's disappearance and death

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote critically of the kingdom's policies and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials say a 15-men team tortured, killed and dismembered the writer, while Saudi Arabia says he died in a 'fistfight.'

Here are some key moments in the slaying of the Washington Post columnist:

BEFORE HIS DISAPPEARANCE

September 2017: The Post publishes the first column by Khashoggi in its newspaper, in which the former royal court insider and longtime journalist writes about going into a self-imposed exile in the U.S. over the rise of Prince Mohammed. His following columns criticize the prince and the kingdom's direction.

September 28, 2018: Over a year after the Post published his first column, Khashoggi visits the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, seeking documents in order to get married. He's later told to return October 2, his fiancee Hatice Cengiz says. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a plan or a 'road map' to kill Khashoggi was devised in Saudi Arabia during this time.

September 29: Khashoggi travels to London and speaks at a conference.

October 1: Khashoggi returns to Istanbul. At around 4.30pm, a three-person Saudi team arrives in Istanbul on a scheduled flight, checks in to their hotels then visits the consulate, according to Erdogan. The Turkish president says another group of officials from the consulate travel to a forest in Istanbul's outskirts and to the nearby city of Yalova on a 'reconnaissance' trip.

Jamal Khashoggi (right) arriving at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2

THE DAY OF HIS DISAPPEARANCE

3.28am, October 2: A private jet arrives at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport carrying some members of what Turkish media will refer to as a 15-member Saudi 'assassination squad.' Other members of the team arrive by two commercial flights in the afternoon. Erdogan says the team includes Saudi security and intelligence officials and a forensics expert. They meet at the Saudi Consulate. One of the first things they do is to dismantle a hard disk connected to the consulate's camera system, the president says.

11.50am: Khashoggi is called to confirm his appointment at the consulate later that day, Erdogan says.

1.14pm: Surveillance footage later leaked to Turkish media shows Khashoggi walking into the main entrance of the Saudi Consulate. No footage made public ever shows him leaving. His fiancee waits outside, pacing for hours.

3.07pm: Surveillance footage shows vehicles with diplomatic license plates leaving the Saudi Consulate for the consul general's home some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away.

5.50pm: Khashoggi's fiancee alerts authorities, saying he may have been forcibly detained inside the consulate or that something bad may have happened to him, according to Erdogan.

7pm: A private plane from Saudi Arabia carries six members of the alleged Saudi squad from Istanbul to Cairo, the next day returning to Riyadh.

11pm: Seven members of the alleged Saudi squad leave on another private jet to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which the next day returns to Riyadh. Two others leave by commercial flights.

Erdogan confirms reports that a 'body double' - a man wearing Khashoggi's clothes, glasses and a beard - leaves the consulate building for Riyadh with another person on a scheduled flight later that day.

CCTV images showed a a private jet alleged to have been used by a group of Saudi men suspected of being involved in Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death

INITIAL REACTION

October 3: Khashoggi's fiancee and the Post go public with his disappearance. Saudi Arabia says Khashoggi visited the consulate and exited shortly thereafter. Turkish officials suggest Khashoggi might still be in the consulate. Prince Mohammed tells Bloomberg: 'We have nothing to hide.'

October 4: Saudi Arabia says on its state-run news agency that the consulate is carrying out 'follow-up procedures and coordination with the Turkish local authorities to uncover the circumstances of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi after he left the consulate building.'

October 5: The Post prints a blank column in its newspaper in solidarity with Khashoggi, headlined: 'A missing voice.'

October 6: The Post, citing anonymous Turkish officials, reports Khashoggi may have been killed in the consulate in a 'preplanned murder' by a Saudi team.

October 7: A friend of Khashoggi tells the AP that officials told him the writer was killed at the consulate. The consulate rejects what it calls 'baseless allegations.'

October 8: Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Turkey is summoned over Khashoggi's disappearance and alleged killing.

LEAKED FOOTAGE

October 9: Turkey says it will search the Saudi Consulate as a picture of Khashoggi walking into the diplomatic post surfaces.

October 10: Surveillance footage is leaked of Khashoggi and the alleged Saudi squad that killed him. Khashoggi's fiancee asks President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump for help.

October 11: Turkish media describes Saudi squad as including royal guards, intelligence officers, soldiers and an autopsy expert. Trump calls Khashoggi's disappearance a 'bad situation' and promises to get to the bottom of it.

October 12: Trump again pledges to find out what happened to Khashoggi.

October 13: A pro-government newspaper reports that Turkish officials have an audio recording of Khashoggi's alleged killing from his Apple Watch, but details in the report come into question.

INTERNATIONAL UPROAR

October 14: Trump says that 'we're going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment' if Saudi Arabia is involved. The kingdom responds with a blistering attack against those who threaten it, as the manager of a Saudi-owned satellite news channel suggests the country could retaliate through its oil exports. The Saudi stock exchange plunges as much as 7 percent at one point.

Khashoggi (pictured), went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul

October 15: A Turkish forensics team enters and searches the Saudi Consulate, an extraordinary development as such diplomatic posts are considered sovereign soil. Trump suggests after a call with Saudi King Salman that 'rogue killers' could be responsible for Khashoggi's alleged slaying. Trump says Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to the Mideast over the case. Meanwhile, business leaders say they won't attend an economic summit in the kingdom that's the brainchild of Prince Mohammed.

October 16: A high-level Turkish official tells the AP that 'certain evidence' was found in the Saudi Consulate proving Khashoggi was killed there. Pompeo arrives for meetings in Saudi Arabia with King Salman and Prince Mohammed. Meanwhile, Trump compares the case to the appointment of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing, saying: 'Here we go again with you're guilty until proven innocent.'

October 17: Pompeo meets with Turkey's president and foreign minister in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Turkish police search the official residence of Saudi Arabia's consul general in Istanbul and conduct a second sweep of the consulate.

October 18: A leaked surveillance photograph shows a member of Prince Mohammed's entourage walked into the consulate just before Khashoggi vanished there.

October 20: Saudi Arabia for the first time acknowledges Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, claiming he was slain in a 'fistfight.' The claim draws immediate skepticism from the kingdom's Western allies, particularly in the U.S. Congress.

October 22: A report says a member of Prince Mohammed's entourage made four calls to the royal's office around the time Khashoggi was killed. Police search a vehicle belonging to the Saudi consulate parked at an underground garage in Istanbul.

CCTV emerges showing a Saudi intelligence officer dressed in a fake beard and Jamal Khashoggi's clothes and glasses on the day he went missing.

October 23: Erdogan says Saudi officials murdered Khashoggi after plotting his death for days, demanding that Saudi Arabia reveal the identities of all involved.

October 25: Changing their story again, Saudi prosecutors say Khashoggi's killing was a premeditated crime.