Al-Qaeda affiliated group Boko Haram is targeting the mobile telephone system in Nigeria claiming that the system is being used by the government to track their members.

Assaults on all 24 destroyed towers were accompanied with armed assaults on villagers and local police. Attacks happened throughout the country from the port city of Lagos in the south, Potiskum in the north and the capital city of Abuja. The damage is estimated in the millions of dollars.

Experts with various cell phone providers say the cost of building a single tower in Nigeria can run over a million dollars. The companies hit by the attacks were more than just Nigerian companies including Etisalat centered in the United Arab Emirates.

Boko Haram has been funding and launching terrorist attacks since 2009 seeking to impose Islamic rule for the country.