BAGHDAD — Rescuers used bare hands and shovels Wednesday to claw through clay houses shattered by an onslaught of suicide bombings that killed at least 250 and possibly as many as 500 members of an ancient religious sect in the deadliest attack of the Iraq war.

The U.S. military blamed al-Qaida in Iraq, and an American commander called the assault an "act of ethnic cleansing."

The victims of Tuesday night's coordinated attack by four suicide bombers were Yazidis, a small Kurdish-speaking sect that has been targeted by Muslim extremists who consider its members to be blasphemers.

The blasts in two villages near the Syrian border crumbled buildings, trapping entire families beneath mud bricks and other wreckage. Entire neighborhoods were flattened.

"This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will, almost genocide," Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, told CNN. He said that was evident from the fact Yazidis live in a remote part of Ninevah province that has been far from Iraq's conflict.

———

Top U.S. general in Iraq prepares troop reduction proposal

BAGHDAD — The top American commander in Iraq said Wednesday he was preparing recommendations on troop reductions before he returns to Washington next month for a report to Congress. He predicted the U.S. footprint in Iraq would have to be "a good bit smaller" by next summer.

But Gen. David Petraeus cautioned against a quick or significant U.S. withdrawal that could surrender "the gains we have fought so hard to achieve."

He declined to offer specifics on upcoming recommendation. The report, expected next month, is seen as a potential roadmap for U.S. military and diplomatic policies in Iraq.

Petraeus also said the "horrific and indiscriminate attacks" that killed at least 250 Yazidis, an ancient religious sect, in northwestern Iraq on Tuesday were the work of al-Qaida in Iraq fighters. The suicide bombings occurred near the Syrian border, and U.S. officials charge the Damascus regime has not done enough to police the frontier against infiltration by foreign fighters who dominate al-Qaida.

———

NYPD report warns of citizens turned terrorists

NEW YORK — Average citizens who quietly band together and adopt radical ways pose a mounting threat to American security that could exceed that of established terrorist groups like al-Qaida, a new police analysis has concluded.

The New York Police Department report released Wednesday describes a process in which young men — often legal immigrants from the Middle East who are frustrated with their lives in their adopted country — adopt a philosophy that puts them on a path to violence.

The report was intended to explain how people become radicalized rather than to lay out specific strategies for thwarting terror plots. It calls for more intelligence gathering, and argues that local law enforcement agencies are in the best position to monitor potential terrorists.

"Hopefully, the better we're informed about this process, the more likely we'll be to detect and disrupt it," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said during a briefing with private security executives at police headquarters.

The study is based on an analysis of a series of domestic plots thwarted since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, including those in Lackawanna, N.Y.; Portland, Ore.; and Virginia. It was prepared by senior analysts with the NYPD Intelligence Division who traveled to Hamburg, Madrid and other overseas spots to confer with authorities about similar cases.

———

Rumsfeld resignation letter makes little mention of war

WASHINGTON — The word "Iraq" doesn't appear in former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation letter. Neither does the word "war." In fact, the deadly and much-criticized conflict that eventually drummed him out of office, comes up only in vague references, such as "a critical time in our history" and "challenging time for our country," in the four-paragraph, 148-word letter he wrote to President Bush a day before the Nov. 7, 2006, election.

According to a stamp on the letter, Bush's office acknowledged receipt the next day, as voters were going to the polls. Bush announced Rumsfeld's departure a day later, after the massive anti-war vote that swept Democrats into control of the House and Senate.

The elusive letter — which the Pentagon denied existed as recently as April — surfaced this week in response to multiple Freedom of Information Act requests by The Associated Press.

But it sheds no light on why Rumsfeld believed he should leave his post after directing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for nearly five years.

———

Giuliani's ground zero claims come back to haunt him

WASHINGTON — Rudy Giuliani's experience on Sept. 11 and at ground zero propelled him into presidential politics, yet by his own admission, it may also weaken his health — a key issue for any candidate seeking the White House.

Just last week, Giuliani was criticized by some firefighter unions for suggesting he was at ground zero as much, if not more, than many rescue workers and exposed to the same health risks. He quickly backed off that statement, saying he misspoke.

"I empathize with them, because I feel like I have that same risk," said Giuliani, who was at the World Trade Center almost immediately on Sept. 11, 2001, and was onsite many times a day after that.

That assertion — made repeatedly by the former mayor over the years — could pose a different challenge in his quest for the White House, by suggesting he may not stay healthy through a presidential term that would begin in 2009.

———

Mine rescuers running out of options to find 6 men

HUNTINGTON, Utah — Rescuers are running out of options to rescue six coal miners trapped by a cave-in nearly 10 days ago, and experts say the chances of finding the men alive are slim. As crews slowly dig a path to the men's presumed location at the Crandall Canyon mine, narrow drill holes sunk deep into the mountain amount to little more than educated guesses.

"There are a lot of possibilities," Richard Stickler, chief of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said Wednesday. "We started with logical thinking: 'If I were in this situation, what would I do?' That has guided us in where we look."

The men could be huddled together or spread out anywhere in an underground area the size of several football fields.

"There's always a chance. You have to hang on to that chance. But realistically it is small, quite small," said J. Davitt McAteer, former head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration and now vice president of Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia. "You would have to have every single break and divine intervention to successfully extract these guys."

———

NASA close to wrapping up tests on shuttle gouge

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — After nearly a week of agonizing over a deep gouge on Endeavour's belly, NASA was close to wrapping up tests Wednesday and deciding whether to order risky spacewalk repairs.

One of the astronauts who would attempt those repairs, Rick Mastracchio, had to cut his latest spacewalk short after he noticed a hole in his left glove.

The long rip in the thumb penetrated only the two outer layers of the five-layer glove, and he was never in any danger, Mission Control said. Nevertheless, he was ordered back inside early as a precaution, and his spacewalking partner quickly finished what he was doing and followed him in.

Earlier in the day, Mission Control informed the shuttle astronauts they might have to wait until Thursday for a decision on possible repairs.

The unprecedented patching job, if approved, would be performed on the next spacewalk, currently scheduled for Friday but most likely to be put off until Saturday to give engineers more time to analyze the situation. That could keep Endeavour and its crew of seven, including teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, at the space station at least an extra day.

———

Mary-Kate Olsen kisses Ben Kingsley in upcoming movie

NEW YORK — Brace yourself: In her upcoming movie, Mary-Kate Olsen locks lips with Ben Kingsley. Yes, the one-time adorable tyke turned teenage titan, and Ghandi. Not surprisingly, the film's a comedy. Olsen is now 21. Kingsley is 63. Their film, "The Wackness," is slated for release next year.

"There is a very passionate scene in the film, which we filmed last week," Kingsley, who won the best-actor Oscar for 1982's "Ghandi," tells the syndicated TV show "Access Hollywood" in an interview scheduled to air Wednesday.

"It went extremely well and she was very focused. She was very good, very professional. She was quite wonderful."