"FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 file photo, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with Iran's former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in Tehran, Iran. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and claimed to regain partial control of a city near the Syrian border Wednesday, trying to blunt a weeklong offensive by militants who diplomats fear may have abducted some 100 foreign workers. Al-Maliki, meanwhile, struck an optimistic tone after soldiers abandoned their posts in the wake of the initial offensive, promising his nation would teach the attackers a ""lesson."" ""We have now started our counteroffensive, regaining the initiative and striking back,"" al-Maliki said. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)"
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