UN chief calls for calm in Jerusalem after serious Palestinian-Israeli clashes.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed deep concern over the deteriorating security situation in Jerusalem, and called on Palestinian and Israeli leaders to help defuse the situation.

At least 152 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli riot police and 400 worshipers arrested inside Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday, the latest outbreak in a recent upsurge of violence that has raised fears of a slide back to wider conflict.

"He (UN chief) calls on leaders on all sides to help calm the situation," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement issued in New York Friday night.

Provocations on the holy site, sacred to both Muslims and Jews, must stop to prevent further escalation, the statement said.

Guterres reiterated his call for the status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem to be upheld and respected.

"The...