A woman holding a picture of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi attends a symbolic funeral prayer for Khashoggi at the courtyard of Fatih mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 16, 2018. (Reuters file photo)

ISTANBUL, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Istanbul's chief prosecutor on Wednesday issued arrest warrants for two Saudi Arabian citizens over the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a local newspaper reported.

The Hurriyet daily identified the suspects as former deputy head of Saudi intelligence General Ahmed Asiri and Saud al-Qahtani, a former aide to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.

The chief prosecutor said in a statement that there is a "strong suspicion that Asiri and al-Qahtani were among planners of Khashoggi's killing," the daily said.

According to the Istanbul prosecutor, Khashoggi was strangled to death after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 and his body was then dismembered and destroyed.

The Saudi public prosecutor has demanded "death penalty" against five of the suspects implicated in the murder of Khashoggi.