JERUSALEM, Feb 9: Israeli riot police armed with stun grenades stormed Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound and clashed with Palestinian stone throwers at the most contested religious sites in the Holy Land on Friday.

Fifteen Israeli policemen and at least 20 Palestinians were wounded in protests against nearby Israeli repair work that Arab leaders charge endangers the mosque, as explosions crackled after Muslim weekly prayers.

Some 200 police stormed the compound where they clashed with hundreds of protesters who threw stones and shouted Allah Akbar, God is Greatest, before around 150 rioters barricaded themselves in the holy Al-Aqsa mosque.

“Approximately 200 police entered inside the Temple Mount. There were several hundred protesters, 150 went inside the mosque,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that the authorities were in full control.

“Police carried out dialogue with Muslim representatives for those youngsters to leave. Police have taken a step back. Things are quiet and calm.” The compound is where the second Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 after a controversial visit by then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon.

Fifteen policemen were hurt in Friday's clashes, nine of whom were taken to hospital, and 17 Arab rioters were arrested in east Jerusalem.

More than 20 Palestinians were treated for injuries, largely from rubber bullets, medical sources said.

Thousands of Palestinians had attended prayers at the mosque and heard Jerusalem mufti Sheikh Mohammed Hussein slam the current Israeli works.

“This is a new blatant aggression against Al-Aqsa,” he said. He accused Israel of waging a “policy of Judaising Jerusalem” and urged Muslims throughout the world to “protect” occupied east Jerusalem and the mosque esplanade.

Access to prayers at the Al-Aqsa was restricted to all but Muslim women, and Muslim men aged over 45 with Israeli ID cards in order to minimise troubles.

It was not immediately clear how the youths managed to evade the police restrictions and enter the compound.

Other riots flared in Salaheddin street, the main shopping centre in east Jerusalem outside the Old City, at the Qalandiya checkpoint en route to the West Bank city of Ramallah and Shurfat refugee camp, police said.

Angry young Palestinian protestors marched through neighbouring streets after Israeli police in riot gear could be seen running on the mosque compound.

Palestinian Muslim leader Sheikh Tayssir al-Tamimi had called on pan-Arab television for a day of protest against the Israeli works, which he slammed as a “crime placing the whole world on the brink of a religious war.” Israel insists the public works, expected to take months, pose no risk to the holy sites and will strengthen an access ramp for the “benefit and safety of visitors” after an earthquake and snowstorm damage in 2004.

Muslim governments from pro-Western Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, to US foe Iran have spoken out against the Israeli “aggression” and demanded that the international community intervene.—AFP