UPDATE - Khashoggi killing: Police searching villas in NW Turkey

By Yavuz Emrah Sever

UPDATES POLICE SEARCH, GOVERNOR'S REMARKS

YALOVA, Turkey (AA) - Turkish police is searching two villas in Yalova province in a probe related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Police and and the gendarmerie forces took positions around the villas in Samanli village of Termal district, according to police sources.

A search inside a well in the garden of one of the villas is also underway.

Two fire trucks and crime scene investigation teams have also reached the spot.

Yalova Governor Muammer Erol said that the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office will make a final statement about the search operation.

Sniffer dogs and drones backed the operation.

Khashoggi, a journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, went missing after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

After initially saying he had left the consulate alive, weeks later the Saudi administration admitted he was killed there, blaming a rogue group of Saudi operatives.