LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Mobile phone carrier MTN Group Ltd. says attackers cut into its fiber-optic lines running through Nigeria's northeast during attacks on telecommunication towers in the region.

In a statement Monday, the South Africa-based MTN said the multiple cuts on the line had disrupted "the lives of millions" in the region. The company offered no estimate on how much damage was done nor the cost of repairs.

From Sept. 5, gunmen began attacking more than 30 mobile phone towers across Nigeria's north, disrupting service for all telecommunication companies in a nation that relies on cellphones. A radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram later claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying mobile phone companies had helped the government arrests its members.

MTN is Nigeria's dominant mobile phone company.