Turkish police are searching an area of woodland outside Istanbul as well as a farm house across the Marmara Sea, in the hunt for missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to local reports.

Investigators are said to have collected CCTV images from the entrance to Belgrad Forest to the north of the city amid fears the US-based Saudi writer's body was dumped there.

After tracing the route of the convoy of cars which left the Saudi consulate on the day the journalist went missing, the search has moved to woodland near the city of Yalova, a 90-kilometre (55 mile) drive south of Istanbul.

They are reportedly also preparing to 'excavate' a villa in Yalova province, where one of the vehicles linked to the Saudi 'hit squad' was seen, according to Turkish media.

Khashoggi, 60, went missing having entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago sparking claims he was tortured and murdered in the building.

NTV's report of the forest search comes after it was claimed that one of the 15 Saudis who flew to Turkey on the day Khashoggi disappeared had been killed in a 'suspicious' car crash. Meshal Saad M. Albostani, a lieutenant of the Saudi Royal Air Force, is said to have died in the capital Riyadh.

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Meshal Saad M. Albostani (left), one of the 15 Saudis who flew to Turkey on the day journalist Jamal Khashoggi (right), disappeared has been killed in a car crash, it has been claimed

Investigators are said to have collected CCTV images from the entrance to Belgrad Forest to the north of the city amid fears the US-based Saudi writer's body was dumped there

Turkish police are searching Belgrad Forest (pictured) outside Istanbul in the hunt for missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to local reports

Jamal Khashoggi (right) arriving at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2. He has not been seen since and Turkey has accused Saudi agents of murdering him

CCTV images have emerged purportedly showing another of the 15 suspects, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, entering the consulate building at 9.55am (pictured) hours before the writer entered the same building in Istanbul

Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, reportedly now being sought by Turkish authorities for questioning over Khashoggi's disappearance, can be seen in the background as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits a Habitat for Humanity in Houston, Texas in April





Turkish pro-government Yeni Safak, which carried the report, is the same newspaper that published what it said were details from audio recordings purportedly documenting Khashoggi's torture and interrogation at the Consulate building.

But Turkey has yet to share with the U.S. government or key European allies any graphic audio or video evidence it allegedly collected on the US-based Saudi journalist's visit to the embassy.

Saudi Arabia's leaders are considering blaming a top Saudi intelligence officer for the apparent murder - according to the Hill.

The man who could be blamed for the killing, Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, is a top adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Meanwhile, CCTV images have emerged purportedly showing another of the 15 Saudis, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, entering the consulate building at 9.55am on the day the writer vanished having entered the building at 1.14pm the same day.

Yeni Safak reported that there was little more detail about the car crash that supposedly left Albostani dead.

Last week, Turkish newspaper Sabah released CCTV images of Albostani among a group of men who flew into Istanbul on the day Khashoggi went missing. They were pictured arriving at Ataturk airport's border control having flown into Turkey in two private jets from the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Meanwhile, a Saudi team investigating the disappearance has left the Saudi consul general's residence in Istanbul, a Reuters witness said early on Thursday.

A group of Turkish police crime scene investigators had left the consul general's residence earlier on Thursday after an almost nine-hour search at the premises.

Turkish investigators had also searched the Saudi consulate for some nine hours on Monday as part of the investigation.

Two weeks after the disappearance on October 2, the United States and allies have collected some intelligence through their own sources and methods, which partly confirms news reports based on leaks of audio recordings, four sources told Reuters.

CCTV images printed by the Sabah newspaper show Mutreb in Turkey on the day of the journalist's disappearance

According to Sabah, this CCTV image shows Mutreb 'and his people' with a large suitcase at a hotel in Turkey

Sabah published pictures which it said showed Mutreb and others at Atatürk Airport at about 5.58pm

A frame grab from a police CCTV video made available through Turkish Newspaper Sabah shows a private jet alleged to have ferried in a group of Saudi men suspected of being involved in Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance

Missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, pictured in Switzerland in 2011, may have been murdered because he knew too much about the Saudi royal family, one of his friends has said

Politicians, tycoons and CEOs pull out of Saudi investment conference Three European government ministers have joined an array of corporate chiefs in pulling out of an upcoming investment conference in Saudi Arabia, following the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Company leaders risk losing lucrative business with the kingdom by shunning the conference, and countries such as the United States, Britain and France have several defence deals at stake. But Turkish claims - denied by Riyadh - that Khashoggi was killed by a hit squad in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 have put them in an awkward spot. International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has already withdrawn from the Future Investment Initiative taking place on October 23-25 in Riyadh, which is billed as a showcase for the economic reforms of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would decide later on Thursday whether to attend, after reviewing the outcome of a diplomatic dash by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The conference's website previously featured a star-studded list of speakers. But that has been removed amid the steady flow of defections. Here is a list of no-shows: POLITICS - French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire - British International Trade Secretary Liam Fox - Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra FINANCE - HSBC chief executive John Flint - Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam - MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga (HSBC, Credit Suisse and MasterCard are listed among the eight 'strategic partners' of the conference. Another is Siemens, whose boss Joe Kaeser says he is still mulling whether to come.) - BNP Paribas chairman Jean Lemierre - Societe Generale CEO Frederic Oudea - JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon - BlackRock chief Larry Fink - Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman - Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters - London Stock Exchange CEO David Schwimmer INDUSTRY/TECHNOLOGY - Ford chairman Bill Ford - Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi - British billionaire Richard Branson - Thrive CEO Ariana Huffington - Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene MEDIA - Viacom CEO Bob Bakish. In addition, multiple media groups have withdrawn executives or journalists who were due to take part in the conference, including CNN, Bloomberg, The Economist, The New York Times, CNBC and the Financial Times. Advertisement

This morning, images emerged in another pro-government Turkish newspaper purporting to show a man who previously travelled with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's entourage to the US entering the Saudi Consulate just before Khashoggi vanished.

The Sabah newspaper's report showed the man, named as Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, also later outside the Saudi consul general's home, checking out of a Turkish hotel as a large suitcase stood by his side, and leaving Turkey on October 2.

The Sabah report showed the man walking past police barricades at the consulate at 9.55am with several men trailing behind him.

Khashoggi arrived at the consulate several hours later at 1.14pm, then disappeared while his fiancée waited outside for him.

Previously leaked surveillance footage showed consular vehicles moving from the consulate to the consul general's official residence, some 1.2 miles away, a little under two hours after Khashoggi walked inside.

The Sabah newspaper showed an image of the man at 4.53 pm at the consul's home, then at 515pm checking out of a hotel. He later cleared airport security at 5.58pm.

Images shot by the Houston Chronicle and later distributed by the AP show the same man was in Prince Mohammed's entourage when he visited a Houston subdivision in April to see rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Harvey.

The same man wore lapel pins, including one of the flags of Saudi Arabia and America intertwined, that other bodyguards accompanying Prince Mohammed wore on the trip.

The three-week trip across the U.S. saw Prince Mohammed meet with business leaders and celebrities, including Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, who now owns the Post.

Yeni Safak had reported that Khashoggi's alleged torturers severed Khashoggi's fingers during an interrogation, and that he was killed within minutes. According to the report, his body was later beheaded and dismembered by his killers.

A New York Times report on Wednesday cited a senior Turkish official confirming the details published by Yeni Safak. Two Turkish government officials contacted by Reuters declined to confirm the report.

Turkish sources told Reuters earlier this week that the authorities have an audio recording indicating that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate and that they were sharing it with countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States.

The reluctance of the Turks to turn over hard evidence they have said they have documenting Khashoggi's fate has led U.S. and European security officials to assess that the most brutal accounts of Khashoggi's demise are likely accurate, the sources said.

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to confirm the lack of evidence in U.S. hands when he said on Wednesday that the United States had asked Turkey for any audio or video evidence it may have related to Khashoggi.

'We have asked for it, if it exists ... I'm not sure yet that it exists, probably does, possibly does,' Trump said.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives for talks at 10 Downing Street earlier this year

'I'll have a full report on that from Mike (Pompeo) when he comes back ... That's going to be the first question I ask,' he said.

Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi policies and columnist for the Washington Post who was living in the United States, vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to get marriage documents.

Pompeo refused to blame Saudi Arabia for the alleged killing of Jamal Khashoggi after his visit to Turkey for talks with President Recep Erdogan.

Pompeo headed straight to the Turkish capital, Ankara, after visiting Saudi Arabia to discuss the progress of the investigation into the Washington Post writer's alleged killing.

His arrival in Riyadh came just hours after Turkish forensic teams searched through the consulate to find evidence of what happened to the Saudi journalist.

Pompeo said after meeting the Saudi royal family that officials in the kingdom told him their investigation into the disappearance and alleged killing won't spare anyone, including royals.

Meanwhile, sources familiar with the case have claimed that the alleged mission that resulted in the journalist's disappearance was organised by a high-ranking officer with Saudi Arabia's main intelligence service - the General Intelligence Presidency.

CNN reports one of the sources as saying that the officers was close to the inner circle of the powerful Crown Prince and that the officer assembled and sent his own team to interrogate Khashoggi suspecting him of having ties to Qatar - the kingdom's arch rival. CNN reports that there has been no evidence to substantiate such a link.

This afternoon, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin will wait for the outcome of a probe into the disappearance of the dissident writer before deciding what impact it may have on relations with Saudi Arabia.

Speaking on Thursday at an international policy forum, Putin said 'those who believe that there was a murder must present evidence.'

He noted that 'the disappearance was a tragedy, but we need to understand what happened' before deciding what impact it may have on Russia's relations with Saudi Arabia.

Putin noted that 'the U.S. bears a certain responsibility' for what happened to Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen who went into self-imposed exile in the U.S.