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Maldives backs Saudi to conduct transparent probe into Khashoggi murder

Maldives government has expressed deep concern over the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi but backed the Saudi Arabia government to conduct a 'thorough and transparent investigation'.

The Saudi government has provided conflicting accounts of what happened to Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post contributor.

After weeks of maintaining he was still alive, senior officials now say the 59-year-old was murdered in a rogue operation after visiting the Saudi consulate in Turkey.

Maldives foreign ministry in a statement expressed confidence that a thorough and transparent investigation would be conducted and those responsible for this act would be brought to justice.

"... the Government of Maldives welcomes the decisive measures taken by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, to ensure transparency, fairness and the application of law to all without any exceptions," the statement read.

On Tuesday, Turkey's president Erdogan told MPs from his ruling party that the killing of Khashoggi was planned days in advance.

Mr Erdogan said Turkey had strong evidence the journalist was killed in a premeditated and "savage" murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.

He also called for the suspects to be tried in Istanbul.