Saudi Arabia admits journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in its consulate

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in a fight in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the country's state TV has said, quoting an initial investigation.

It reported that deputy intelligence chief Ahmad al-Assiri and Saud al-Qahtani, senior aide to Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, were dismissed over the affair.

This is the first time the kingdom has admitted Khashoggi has died.

The acknowledgement follows two weeks of denials that Saudi Arabia had any involvement in the disappearance of the prominent Saudi critic when he entered the consulate in Istanbul on 2 October to obtain paperwork for his upcoming marriage.

The Saudi kingdom had come under heavy international pressure to explain Khashoggi's disappearance after Turkish officials said he was deliberately killed inside the consulate, and his body dismembered.

On Friday, Turkish police widened their search from the consulate grounds to a nearby forest where unnamed officials believe his body may have been disposed of.