NATO forces strike Gaddafi’s compound

NATO forces flattened a building inside Muammar Gaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziyah compound, in what his officials said was a failed attempt on the Libyan leader’s life.

NATO said the attack was on a communications headquarters used to co-ordinate attacks on civilians. A Libyan spokesman said Gaddafi was unharmed and state television showed pictures of him meeting people in a tent, which it said were taken on Monday.

Firefighters were still working to extinguish flames in part of the ruined building a few hours after the attack, when foreign journalists were taken to the scene in Tripoli.

A press official, who asked not to be identified, said 45 people were hurt in the strike, 15 of them seriously, and some were still missing.

That could not be independently confirmed.

Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam said the Libyan government would not be cowed by such attacks.

“The bombing which targeted Muammar Gaddafi’s office today... will only scare children. It’s impossible that it will make us afraid or give up or raise the white flag,” he was quoted as saying by the Jana state news agency.

“You, NATO, are waging a losing battle because you are backed by traitors and spies. History has proved that no state can rely on them to win.”

Libyan authorities have contacted Russia, China, Italy, Turkey and other countries to complain about the strike on Gaddafi’s compound, a government statement said.

The compound has been hit before, but NATO forces appear to have stepped up the pace of strikes in Tripoli in recent days. A target nearby, which the government called a car park but which appeared to cover a bunker, was hit two days ago.

NATO said that it was maintaining a “high operational tempo”.

Italy said its warplanes would join British and French aircraft in carrying out bombing of Libya. Geographically the closest major NATO member state to Libya, Italy had until Monday provided bases for the operation and support aircraft only.

The attack on the compound coincided with a fresh flurry of diplomacy by countries seeking a way out of the Libyan conflict.

The African Union was holding separate talks with Libyan foreign minister Abdelati Obeidi and rebel representatives in Addis Ababa to discuss a peace plan.

The rebel representatives — former ambassadors to South Africa and Uganda — and Obeidi were meeting separately with EU and UN representatives.