Gaddafi unhurt in raid, 3 killed: spokesman

(Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was unhurt in a NATO airstrike on his Bab al-Aziziyah compound early on Monday that left three people dead, a government spokesman said, calling it an assassination attempt.

TRIPOLI | Mon Apr 25, 2011 12:22pm EDT

Spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said it appeared to have been an attempt on Gaddafi's life, but those who died were office workers and security guards while 45 people were wounded. He said the building housed political offices.

"How is this act of terrorism protecting civilians in Libya?" he said to visiting journalists at the compound, where books spilled from an office into twisted metal and crumbled concrete. "This is a cowardly attempt to pursue one person."

He said Gaddafi was not in hiding, but was in a safe place.

"He is well, he is healthy, he is in high spirits," Ibrahim said.

Libyan state television showed pictures of Gaddafi meeting people in a tent. It said the pictures had been taken on Monday.

(Reporting by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)