Srinagar, May 13 -- With no hostilities between Indian and Pakistani militaries reported for nearly two days, residents of villages along the Line of Control (LoC) who had fled to safety to escape heavy cross-border shelling from Pakistan started returning to their houses on Monday after bomb squads of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police sanitised the villages of any unexploded bombs. Till Monday afternoon, bomb squads had cleared six villages in forward areas like Uri and Tangdhar, which suffered heavily in the cross-border shelling last week. One of the villages cleared for the return of its residents is Garkote, which sits atop a mountain along the LoC overlooking Pakistani bunkers. Zaffar Ahmad, who along with his extended family of 30 members had moved to Baramulla on May 6, a day before Indian armed forces conducted airstrikes on nine terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the early hours of May 7, was packing his belongings to move back to his village. "Ours is a big extended family. When we left, some took refuge in Baramulla and others travelled 105 km away to Srinagar. A day before the ceasefire (May 10) we moved into a rented house in old city Baramulla as we thought the hostilities would go on for many days," Ahmad, a shopkeeper in Uri market, said, expressing happiness that the "nightmare lasted for a brief period". His village Garkote, inhabiting close to 3,000 people, had witnessed the worst shelling in close to two decades until India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along the LoC and International Border on May 10. "The village has seen devastation in shelling in the past as well and we know what it means to live on the LoC, especially when you don't even have underground bunkers," Ahmad said. Though the market reopened on Sunday, many shops remained closed. Majority of villages in Uri, comprising of two blocks, is vulnerable to Pakistani artillery or mortar shelling due to its geographical location, sitting right on the LoC. Since the shelling started in the northern Kashmir, a woman was killed, around 10 others suffered injuries and more than 50 buildings were damaged. The worst-hit villages include, Garkote, Salamabad, Kamalkote, Gingal, Razarwani, and Lagama....