A Bailey bridge that served as the only vehicular link between Sahamphung block and the district headquarters in Manipur’s Kamjong district was blown apart in a suspected explosives attack late Tuesday night, cutting off road access for more than ten villages and leaving a parked telecom department vehicle gutted by fire, police said.

The bridge, built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana over the Namban river between Phange and Chattric villages, gave way at around 9:30 pm on July 21 in what residents described as a loud blast heard across the area. When villagers went to check the crossing at daybreak, the structure had been reduced to wreckage, according to accounts carried by regional outlets EastMojo and The Assam Tribune. A Telecom Department pick-up truck parked on the riverbank below was found burnt out.

Kamjong police have registered a suo motu case and opened an investigation, recovering what they believe are remnants of an improvised explosive device, including debris found on a tarpaulin sheet at the site. Investigators have not officially confirmed the composition of the recovered material, and no group had claimed responsibility for the attack as of the time of reporting.

Some residents in the area have pointed to armed Kuki groups as being responsible, though The Assam Tribune noted this could not be independently verified. Separately, the Naga civil society body Khanuithot-Khon issued a statement blaming Kuki “narco-terrorists” for the blast and alleging they had assistance from Assam Rifles personnel — a claim the organisation did not support with evidence and which the Assam Rifles had not responded to at the time the reports were filed. Sentinel NE has not been able to independently verify either allegation.

The Sahamphung route has taken on outsized importance in recent months. Naga civil society groups say residents of Ukhrul and Kamjong districts have faced restricted, escort-controlled movement on National Highway-202 for roughly five months amid the wider ethnic conflict, leaving the Chattric crossing as one of the few practical ways for thousands of people to reach hospitals, schools, markets and government offices. Its destruction, community representatives argue, deepens an already difficult situation for residents already cut off from the highway.

Investigations into the blast, and into who was responsible for it, remain ongoing.