People on both sides of the Indian and Pakistani border in no hurry to return to villages: Skeptical about ceasefire

After spending days in makeshift homes and with relatives, people on both sides of the Indian and Pakistani borders are skeptical about this weekend's ceasefire and are in no hurry to return to their villages, Reuters reports.

Indian cities such as Jammu and Amritsar, whose residents were terrified by the sounds of explosions after the ceasefire agreement, are quieter than usual today, as many shop owners have decided to close their shops and people have preferred to stay indoors.

Indian and Pakistani authorities have advised people who have left border areas not to return to frontline villages just yet.

After four days of fighting, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire yesterday under pressure from the United States (US), but within hours explosions erupted in border towns and India accused Pakistan of violating the agreement.

The arch-rivals were engaged in the worst fighting in nearly three decades, firing missiles and drones at each other's military facilities, and nearly 70 people were killed.

"Urgent appeal": "Do not return to frontline villages. Lives are in danger. Unexploded ordnance remains after Pakistani shelling," reads a police notice in Indian Kashmir.

Hundreds of people have been moved to temporary homes, while others have gone to relatives far from the border, as fighting intensified earlier this week.

"I want to go back to my village, in Bihar. I don't want to go back there (to the border) and die," said Asha Devi, a 22-year-old farm worker in the Ahnor region, one of the areas worst hit by shelling in recent days.

Kabal Singh, an elder of a village near the border, said people were afraid to return to their homes after hearing explosions following the announcement of a ceasefire.

On the Pakistani side of the border, some residents displaced from the village were advised to wait until Monday before returning.

"Many of them are waiting to see how the situation develops before they make a decision to return," said Akhtar Ayub, a local administration official in Pakistan's Neelum Valley.

A US-brokered ceasefire between India and Pakistan is largely holding, despite the two sides accusing each other of violations in the hours after it was signed.

Indian Air Force: Losses are part of the fight, all pilots have returned

The Indian Air Force said on Monday that "the losses are part of the fight," without giving details, but added that all pilots had returned home after the fight with Pakistan this week, responding to a question about whether the force had suffered losses, Reuters reported.

A Pakistani military spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday that five Indian aircraft had been shot down, but India has not confirmed the claim.

Also on Wednesday, four government sources in Indian-administered Kashmir told Reuters that three fighter jets had crashed in the federal territory, hours after India said it had struck nine Pakistani "terrorist infrastructure" sites across the border.