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.