Blast rocks railway bridge in Russia's Samara region

A railway bridge near the Russian city of Samara has been rocked by a blast, the RIA news agency reported on Monday, citing emergency services.

Located on the Volga river in Russia's southwest, the Samara region is one of the country's heavy industry hubs.

The incident was caused by an explosive device, according to TASS. Russia has in recent months reported a series of attacks on its industrial and logistics infrastructure which it blamed on Ukraine.

No casualties have been reported, but traffic over the bridge has been suspended, the Russian Railways said, describing the incident as "illegal interference".

"An intervention by non-authorised persons" caused the incident, the railways company said in a statement, adding that no-one was injured as a result.

"Rail traffic is suspended for the moment at this section," it said.

"An explosive device damaged a pillar on a rail bridge" over the Chapaevka river, the official TASS agency quoted a source at the rescue services as saying.

Russia's rail network has seen a number of sabotage incidents after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.

Agencies