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Saudi Arabia says Khashoggi killed in ‘brawl'

In a statement Friday night, Saudi Arabia said Jamal Khashoggi died in an Oct. 2 fistfight at the country’s Istanbul consulate, after days of denying knowledge of the dissident journalist’s whereabouts.
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More than two weeks after Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance from the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Saudi Arabia said late Friday that the journalist was killed in an altercation in the diplomatic facility.

The official confirmation of Khashoggi’s death, following mounting international pressure and a steady drip of leaks from Turkish sources, will come with a house-cleaning of top leadership, the Saudi Attorney General's office said in a statement. Riyadh had maintained until now that Khashoggi left the consulate safely Oct. 2 and that it had no idea of his whereabouts.

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