MISSING journalist Jamal Khashoggi was chopped into pieces while he was still ALIVE in a horrifying seven-minute execution, it’s reported.

A source claims to have heard a recording from the writer’s Apple Watch capturing the moment he was allegedly dragged into a study and surgically dismembered.

Evidence suggests the 59-year-old regime critic was tortured to death, dismembered and smuggled out

The anonymous source said Khashoggi – a Saudi journalist based in the US – can be heard screaming as he’s dragged from the Consul General’s office to a desk in next door study.

They claim the consul was taken out of the room before Khashoggi was “injected with an unknown drug”.

The source told the Middle East Eye: “There was no attempt to interrogate him. They had come to kill him.”

They also said that the 52-year-old’s cries and screams were heard by witnesses downstairs before his body was “cut into pieces”.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands ahead of today’s meeting.

It comes as a Turkish official claimed there was evidence Khashoggi had been tortured to death, “cut into pieces” and smuggled out.

His murderers are reported to have listened to music while dismembering his body.

The high-level dignitary, who didn’t want to be named, said that police found “certain evidence” of Khashoggi’s slaying at the consulate, without elaborating.

Earlier Donald Trump claimed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “denied all knowledge” of Khashoggi’s mysterious disappearance.

The US President said the Crown Prince told him an investigation was underway and promised he would get answers surrounding the writer’s fate.

The passport of a suspected Saudi national involved in the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi

The faces and names of the men have been obscured because they have not been independently verified

He went on to slam criticism of Saudi Arabia as a case of “guilty until proven innocent” – and compared it to to the allegations of sexual assault surrounding Brett Kavanaugh.

Trump defended what he characterised as efforts to condemn Riyadh over Khashoggi’s disappearance before all the facts were known.

The 59-year-old, who wrote critically about the Saudis for the Washington Post, disappeared on October 2 after travelling to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to pick up paperwork he need to get married.

The Washington Post last night published passport scans of the seven Saudi men alleged to have been part of Khashoggi’s disappearance, which they say were provided by Turkish officials.

Police officers speak with one another outside the Saudi Arabia consul’s residence, in Istanbul, Turkey

The newspaper obscured the faces and names of the men because their identities have not been independently verified.

Meanwhile, The New York Times named Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb – assigned to the Saudi London embassy in 2007 – as a suspect.

He often travelled with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

Three others are reportedly linked by witnesses and other records to the Saudi crown prince’s security detail.

A fifth is said to be a doctor with links to the Saudi Interior Ministry and medical establishment.

Donald Trump claims the Saudi Crown Prince has ‘denied all knowledge’ of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s mysterious disappearance

Saudi security officers stand by their cars outside the Consulate in Istanbul

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Saudi Arabia to talk to King Salman and the 33-year-old crown prince about the fate of the journalist.

He said: “In each of those meetings I stressed the importance of them conducting a complete investigation into the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. They made a commitment to do that.

“They said it would be a thorough, complete and transparent investigation,” he said. “They indicated they understood that getting that done in a timely, rapid fashion so they could begin to answer important questions.”

Asked whether they said Khashoggi was alive or dead, Pompeo said: “They didn’t talk about any of the facts.”

This morning he landed in Ankara for talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

Trump said after a phone call with the Crown Prince that he “totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate.”

Writing in a tweet, the president said the crown prince “told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter.”

He added: “Answers will be forthcoming shortly.”

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Trump he had started an investigation into Khashoggi’s fate

The president also told Fox News if the Saudi King or Crown Prince knew what had happened to the writer, “that would be bad”.

He said: “It depends whether or not the king or the crown prince knew about it, in my opinion, number one, what happened, but whether or not they knew about it.

“If they knew about it that would be bad.”

Authorities appeared ready to also search the nearby residence of the consul general after the diplomat left the country.

US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday

Saudi officials have called Turkish allegations that a team of 15 Saudi agents killed Khashoggi “baseless,” but US media reports suggested that the kingdom may acknowledge the writer was killed at the consulate, perhaps as part of a botched interrogation.

The close US ally is ruled entirely by the Al Saud monarchy, and all major decisions in the ultraconservative kingdom are made by the royal family.

Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan said the Saudi government “owes the Khashoggi family and the world a full and honest explanation of everything that happened to him.”

He said: “The Saudi government can no longer remain silent, and it is essential that our own government and others push harder for the truth.”

A van approaches the Saudi Arabia consul’s residence, in Istanbul, on Tuesday night

Missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have recorded himself being tortured and hacked to death on his Apple Watch

Leaked surveillance video show diplomatic cars travelled to the consul general’s home shortly after Khashoggi went into the consulate.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that police sought traces of “toxic” materials and suggested parts of the consulate had been recently painted, without elaborating.

Trump previously warned of “severe punishment” for the kingdom if it was found to be involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance, which has spooked investors.

Trump’s warning drew an angry response from Saudi Arabia and its state-linked media, including a suggestion that Riyadh could wield its oil production as a weapon.

The US president has been after King Salman and OPEC to boost production to drive down high oil prices, caused in part by the coming re-imposition of oil sanctions on Iran.

On Monday, however, Trump offered a different theory after speaking by telephone with King Salman.

“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers,” Trump said. “I mean, who knows? We’re going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial.”

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and his G7 counterparts today said they are “very troubled” by the disappearance of Khashoggi and insist those responsible must be held to account.

In the statement, foreign ministers from the G7 group of leading economies,said: ” We remain very troubled by the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“Those bearing responsibility for his disappearance must be held to account.

“We encourage Turkish-Saudi collaboration and look forward to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia conducting a thorough, credible, transparent, and prompt investigation, as announced.”