Gov. Nixon taking National Guard out of Ferguson

Washington (AFP) - American warplanes have bombed Islamist militants in northern Iraq near the Mosul dam, the US military's Central Command said on Thursday, in the latest air attack on the extremists.

"US military forces continued to attack ISIL (Islamic State) terrorists in support of Iraqi Security Force operations, using fighter and attack aircraft to conduct six airstrikes in the vicinity of the Mosul Dam," it said in a statement.

The air raids were carried out over the last 24 hours, a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The air attacks come after President Barack Obama called for decisive international action against the "cancer" of jihadist extremism in Iraq and Syria.

The latest strikes destroyed or damaged three Humvee armored vehicles, another vehicle, and "multiple" homemade bomb "emplacements," Central Command said.

The US military has conducted 90 air strikes in Iraq since August 8, including the latest bombing raids. Of those 90 operations, 57 have been in support of Iraqi government forces near the Mosul dam, it said.

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The wreckage of a car belonging to Islamic State militants lies beside a tree after it was targeted …

Obama approved the air raids amid rising alarm over the threat posed by the Islamist militants who have seized territory to the north and west of Baghdad.

The air raids coincided with global outrage over the gruesome execution of American reporter James Foley by the Islamic State jihadists, which was revealed in a video Tuesday.

US officials acknowledged that American special forces had tried this summer to rescue Foley and other US hostages but the bid failed.

Obama on Wednesday said the Islamist extremists had to be defeated.

"We will be vigilant and we will be relentless... From governments and peoples across the Middle East, there has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so it does not spread."

The chief medical examiner of St. Louis County, who performed the first autopsy on Michael Brown after he was shot on Aug. 9, says that she is concerned by one of the men hired by the Brown family to conduct its own exam.

“I can tell you absolutely that I find what Parcells does to be abysmal,” Dr. Mary Case told The Daily Caller when asked about Shawn Parcells, a Kansas-based forensic pathologist assistant. He has been accused in the past of fabricating his job title and of conducting autopsies without a license.

Parcells, along with Dr. Michael Baden, was hired last week by the Brown family to conduct an independent private autopsy. They did so, they said, because they did not trust local authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into Brown’s police shooting death.

The team released its results on Monday and determined that Brown was shot at least six times.

One crucial determination was the trajectory of the bullet that killed Brown. Parcells explained to TheDC earlier this week that the bullet was traveling in a back to front direction, indicating that Brown was bent over in some fashion when he was struck.

The location of Brown’s head when he was shot is sure to figure prominently in the investigation. The Brown family and many across the U.S. believe that Brown was “executed” by Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson in broad daylight. Wilson reportedly claims he shot Brown in self-defense.

But Mary Case, along with a number of other medical examiners and pathologists have been heavily critical of Parcells.

“He is doing forensic autopsies which may send someone to prison, and he is not a physician much less a forensic pathologist,” she told TheDC, adding that forensic pathologists and medical examines throughout the U.S. “are shocked by this man and how bold he is to do what he does.”

“No one stops him,” she said.

Case said that Baden, 80, “is an excellent forensic pathologist.” At a press conference Monday, Baden said the same thing about her.

But Case claims that Baden was unaware of what she called Parcells’ “baggage.”

“Dr. Baden did not know about Parcells’ baggage or he would not have become associated with him,” Case told TheDC. “His association with Parcells is very unfortunate.”

Asked whether she is concerned that Parcells’ shortcomings are an issue in the Brown autopsy, Case said, “Of course I do.”

Parcells operates National Forensic Autopsy & Tissue Recovery Services out of Overland Park, Kan.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Erik Mitchell complained to a Kansas City news station earlier this week that Parcells is working without a license.

And Dr. Thomas Young, the former medical examiner of Jackson County, Mo., told the station that Parcells was misrepresenting himself when he said Young was his mentor.(RELATED: NONE In The Back: Brown Autopsy Shows He Was Shot In The Front Of The Body)

“He has been representing himself in a way that is not appropriate by giving forensic pathology opinions when he is not qualified to do so,” Young told the station.

Told of Case’s criticism, Parcells told TheDC, “Oh, I’m not surprised.”

“She hasn’t liked me for a really time. So, whatever. I don’t know what else to say other than that.”

Parcells told TheDC that the others who have accused him of improperly conducting exams “are just jealous.”

Parcells explained how he was hired on to help with the Brown autopsy. He said that he received an email from the Brown family attorneys last week. He told TheDC that it was his understanding that Baden was contacted separately.

Parcells told the attorneys that he would like to help with the autopsy. After Baden was brought on, Parcells said he asked if his assistance would be needed. He was told that Baden said he would be “delighted” to have Parcells’ help.

Baden, who is a well-regarded pathologist, did not hand-pick Parcells. But Parcells told TheDC that he discussed with Baden some of the complaints that have been leveled against him in the past. Parcells said Baden told him not to worry about his detractors.

Baden could not be reached for comment.

Parcells provided a mixed picture of just how much input he had on the Brown autopsy.

On the one hand, he downplayed his role; on the other, he said that Baden felt he contributed greatly to the investigation.

“He felt that I was very instrumental in the investigation and very instrumental in helping him with his analysis,” Parcells told TheDC.

But, he said, “at the end of the day, I was assisting Dr. Baden.”

At Monday’s press conference when the autopsy results were released, Parcells presented the findings to the audience. Asked why he gave the explanation and not Baden, Parcells said that Baden felt he was a more concise speaker.

The results of Case’s autopsy have not been released. The Justice Department ordered its own exam as well, but those results have not been released either.

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Syrian troops killed dozens of jihadi fighters, including a prominent media activist, in heavy clashes on Thursday around a sprawling northern air base that the Islamic State group is trying to seize, activists and state media said.

Islamic State fighters began a long-anticipated offensive on Wednesday to seize Tabqa air base in the northern province of Raqqa, the last position held by the Syrian government in a province that is a stronghold of the al-Qaida breakaway group.

The assault on the Tabqa air base had been expected for weeks. Islamic State fighters have tightened their siege of the military facility in recent days, capturing a string of nearby villages.

Syria's state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying that "large numbers of terrorists were wiped out" near the air base. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the death toll among Islamic State fighters is at least 11 and possibly as many as "tens."

Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV said more than 150 members of the Islamic State were killed in an ambush near the air base. Al-Manar, a network run by the Lebanese Hezbollah, which is a close ally of the Syrian government, gave a similar number.

The Raqqa Media Center, an activist collective, reported fierce clashes around the facility accompanied by government airstrikes. It said a prominent Islamic State media activist known as Abu Moussa, who appeared in a recent Vice News documentary about the group, was among those killed. It said that another media activist, Abu Abdullah al-Ansari, was also killed.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, confirmed Abu Moussa and al-Ansari's deaths.

The Observatory said the Islamic State group launched two suicide attacks on Wednesday but failed to break into the air base. The Observatory's chief Rami Abdurrahman said Islamic State fighters attacking the air base are led by Omar al-Shishani, one of the group's most prominent military figures.

The air base is one of the most significant military facilities in the area, containing several warplanes, helicopters, tanks, artillery and ammunition.

Last month, Islamic State fighters overran the Division 17 military base in Raqqa, killing at least 85 soldiers. Two weeks later, the extremists seized the nearby Brigade 93 base after days of heavy fighting.

Since July, following their blitz across Iraq and after they declared a self-styled caliphate straddling the Iraq-Syria border, Islamic State fighters have methodically picked off isolated government bases in northern and eastern Syria, killing and decapitating army commanders and pro-government militiamen.