Seventeen coalition soldiers have been killed and five wounded in a mid-air collision between two US helicopters. The Black Hawk helicopters crashed over the northern city of Mosul. Witnesses say one of the helicopters was hit by a missile and spun out of control into the other, but officials have not commented on the cause. The crash came as the US-appointed Governing Council unveiled an accelerated timetable to Iraqi control. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insisted that the new schedule for transferring power to Iraqi hands would not affect the military presence.

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