Saudi Arabia said on Saturday a missing journalist had died in a fight inside its Istanbul consulate and it had fired two senior officials over his death, an account President Donald Trump said was credible but US lawmakers found hard to believe.

So grave is the fallout from the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi that King Salman has felt compelled to intervene, five sources with links to the Saudi royal family said.

A Turkish newspaper yesterday published what it said were details from audio recordings that purported to document Saudi journalist and government critic Jamal Khashoggi's torture and interrogation.

A small group of Turkish investigators are examining the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Wednesday, a Reuters photographer said, the second such search this week of the premises after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared two weeks ago.

Some militants have withdrawn from the demilitarisation zone in Idlib following a deal between Russia and Turkey on the northwestern Syrian region, a US official said on Wednesday.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was tortured before being decapitated inside Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul, pro-government daily Yeni Safak reported Wednesday, saying it had heard audio recordings.

Saudi Arabia's consul to Istanbul on Tuesday left the Turkish city bound for Riyadh on a scheduled flight, reports said, as Turkey prepared to search his residence in the probe into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashogghi.

Saudi Arabia is preparing a report that would admit Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed as the result of an interrogation that went wrong, CNN reported yesterday, citing two unnamed sources.

Turkey will search the Saudi consulate in Istanbul later on Monday as part of an investigation into the disappearance of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Turkish diplomatic source said.

Nineteen people, including children, died on Sunday when a vehicle carrying migrants reportedly heading for EU member Greece plunged off the highway into a waterway in western Turkey, state media said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was "very serious", calling for an investigation to yield "complete clarity" on what happened to him.

Turkey and the United States on Thursday ratcheted up the pressure on Saudi Arabia to explain how a journalist vanished after entering its Istanbul consulate last week ...