TRIPOLI, Libya — Less than 12 hours after rebels reclaimed the airport in the contested western city of Misurata, explosions echoed across Tripoli as NATO warplanes struck a large, heavily guarded compound that serves as a base for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

Government officials said three bombs struck the sprawling compound, Bab al-Aziziya, early Thursday morning, beginning shortly after 3 a.m.

On a closely monitored tour of the complex for foreign journalists, the officials said the bombs damaged roadways and “administrative buildings” that were of no military significance. News reports also said other areas of the capital had been hit by NATO bombs.

The government attempted to use the airstrikes to press its case that NATO’s actions demonstrate the West’s lack of “morality” and put ordinary people in danger. On the tour, officials paraded reporters past a crater not far from tents filled with refugees, many of them men, women and children from sub-Saharan Africa, who officials say have been given shelter from the violence wracking the country. The officials also said that the bombs had killed three people — two reporters and a guide — who they said were at the site for overnight “celebrations,” but they did not provide details.