WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 2007 – Afghan and coalition forces teamed up to defeat a group of Taliban insurgents protecting a heroin laboratory in Helmand province yesterday, officials reported. Afterward, the Taliban launched a mortar attack against innocent civilians living almost a dozen kilometers north of the destroyed lab. The attack on the civilians came about an hour after Afghan and coalition forces bested an insurgent force, which was later determined to be guarding a large heroin lab. Both attacks followed a night of fighting between insurgents and Afghan and coalition troops. A number of insurgents were killed in the firefights....