First lull in Kashmir since latest India-Pakistan escalation

A Pakistani Kashmiri carries his belonging and walks through a market at his hometown in Chakoti on the violent border that separates the Himalayan region of Kashmir between Pakistan and India, Saturday, March 2, 2019. Indian and Pakistani soldiers again targeted each other's posts and villages along their volatile frontier in disputed Kashmir, killing at some civilians and wounding few others, officials said. b(AP Photo/Roshan Mughal)

Family members of a boy, who was killed by Indian shelling, mourn next his casket at a village in Hatian Bala, 40 kilometers from Muzafarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir, Saturday, March 2, 2019. Indian and Pakistani soldiers again targeted each other's posts and villages along their volatile frontier in disputed Kashmir, killing at some civilians and wounding few others, officials said. (AP Photo/M.D. Mughal)

Residents near the disputed boundary in divided Kashmir say it was quiet overnight, the first lull since an escalation between Pakistan and India erupted last week.

Nazakat Hussain in Pakistani-held Kashmir says his and many other families are using the lull Sunday to leave their homes in Chakoti area.

Pakistani government official Moazzam Zafar says some 200 families have already taken shelter in three large government buildings in the territory.

At least eight civilians and two soldiers have been killed in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir since tensions soared following India's airstrike Tuesday inside Pakistan that New Delhi said targeted militants behind a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 troops.

Pakistan retaliated, shooting down a fighter jet Wednesday and detaining its pilot, who was returned to India on Friday.