Former Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt, held captive for years by rebels, greets Pope Benedict XVI at the papal retreat of Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, on Monday. The former presidential candidate in Colombia credited her faith with helping her survive her kidnapping ordeal.

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KABUL — Foreign and Afghan forces accidentally killed five children in two separate operations Monday, further undermining President Hamid Karzai after he demanded a halt to attacks in civilian areas.

Afghan officials have accused forces from the U.S. and other countries of killing dozens of civilians in recent weeks. The deaths have inflamed tensions across the country and weakened public support for both Karzai's government and a continued foreign-troop presence in Afghanistan.

NATO said it accidentally killed three children in an artillery strike in the east on Monday after insurgents attacked its troops in Paktika province.

In a separate raid, police officer Qubaidullah, who like many Afghans goes by one name, said U.S. troops backed by Afghan intelligence agents killed a man and his two children near the capital, Kabul.

However, 1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a U.S. coalition spokesman, said no American troops took part in the operation.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's top security official Monday admitted that al-Qaida's leadership moved freely in and out of the country and vowed that "no mercy" would be shown to extremists based in its tribal territory that borders Afghanistan.

In the past, Pakistan has been heavily criticized for rejecting evidence that al-Qaida was largely based in the country and for denying that the tribal territory was used as a safe haven for Afghan insurgents.

Rehman Malik, the interior ministry chief, revealed that al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al Zawahiri and his wife had been in Mohmand, part of the tribal area. Most of time, Malik said Zawahiri was mainly in Afghanistan's Kunar and Paktia provinces.

"We certainly had traced him (Zawahiri) at one place, but we missed the chance. So he's moving in Mohmand and, of course, sometimes in Kunar, mostly in Kunar and Paktia," Malik told reporters in Islamabad.

In the past, Islamabad has denied suggestions that Zawahiri and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden were hiding in Pakistan.

SAHARSA DISTRICT— Indian authorities rushed doctors and medical equipment to flood-devastated northern India on Monday to ward off outbreaks of disease among the hundreds of thousands of victims crowding relief camps, officials said.

Nearly half of the 1.2 million people who were left homeless when the Kosi River burst its banks two weeks ago, spilling over north India's vast plains, had been rescued by Monday, and officials said they hope to reach the rest in the next three days.

About 250,000 refugees were in government and relief agency camps, said Prataya Amrit, a top disaster management official in Bihar state, the scene of the flooding. Many of the rest have taken shelter with families or friends.

Meanwhile, rescue efforts pressed ahead, led by more than 2,000 extra military personnel sent to the region.

LONDON — British police charged a fourth man Monday in connection with alleged threats to assassinate Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Lancashire Constabulary said in a statement that 24-year-old Muhammad Ali Mumtaz Ahmad was charged with possessing an item suspected of being useful for the preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

Media reports said the men were being held in connection with a Web site posting signed "al-Qaida in Britain" that threatened the life of Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair.

LONDON — The Sun newspaper called police after being offered pictures of Britain's Prince William and his girlfriend, Kate Middleton, it said Monday.

The British tabloid said it was offered more than 40 photographs showing the couple vacationing on the Caribbean island of Mustique — where they reportedly spent time early last month.

The paper said the pictures were taken from a digital camera stolen from a car in London just before noon on Friday. Less than an hour later, The Sun said, it was contacted by two men claiming to have found the photos on a memory card they fished out of a gutter. The men wanted $90,000 for the pictures, the paper said.

Intimate pictures of William and Middleton, both 26, who have been dating, are highly prized.

But The Sun said it had passed up the opportunity to pick up the pictures and instead called Scotland Yard, which went on to make an arrest.