BAGHDAD – Suspected al-Qaida fighters stormed two villages near Baqouba on Thursday, bombed the house of a local Sunni sheik and kidnapped a group of mostly women. Residents were finally able to drive off the attackers and end the deadly rampage.

Seventeen villagers, including seven women, were killed in the assaults roughly 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Ten al-Qaida gunmen also died.

The twin attacks near the Diyala provincial capital – the focus of recent major U.S.-Iraqi military operations against alleged al-Qaida fighters and Shiite militiamen – hit a Shiite village and a Sunni village with the same ferocity but apparently different motives.

Al-Qaida in Iraq has been forced to fight a rearguard action against many of its former allies in the Sunni community who have risen up against the terrorist organization because of its brutality and attempts to impose the group’s austere version of Islam. Shiite communities remain al-Qaida targets out of sectarian animosity.

The attack on the Sunni village, Ibrahim al-Yahya, began when about 25 gunmen exploded a bomb at the house of Sheik Younis al-Shimari, destroying his home and killing him and one member of his family. Ten people were wounded, including four other members of the family and passers-by. Some of the wounded were hit by gunfire.

Seven people were kidnapped. Two of the abducted men were later found shot in the head on a road leading out of town. The rest of the captives were women, and their fate was unknown.

Also Thursday, Jordan’s energy minister said his country expects to resume Iraqi oil imports in the coming days, ending a four-year hiatus sparked by the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein, the official Petra news agency reported.

The Iraqis said the deal was in the works for a long time and awaited only the hiring of a security force to guard the trucks. Apparently until now they could find no one who would take the job.