A land-based fiber-optics cable running across the border between Sweden and Finland was damaged in two separate locations on Monday. This incident comes weeks after EU investigators probed a Chinese-flagged vessel suspected of sabotaging undersea cables in the Baltic Sea. 

Internet provider Global Connect told AP News that the telecommunications cable was severed in two places in southern Finland. 

"The first damage has been repaired, and internet access has been mostly restored," said Global Connect's spokesman in Sweden, Niklas Ekström, adding that thousands of customers were briefly knocked offline. 

Ekström said, "We are still working on fixing the second damage."

He noted that the first incident was related to construction work but provided no further details about what caused the second incident, stating: "We have no analysis on this so far."

"The authorities are investigating the matter together with the company. We take the situation seriously," Finland's minister of transportation and communications, Lulu Ranne, wrote on X.

Euronews said, "Swedish media reported that Finnish police suspect a criminal offence in connection to the damaged cable."

The incident comes weeks after two undersea fiber optic cables connecting Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Lithuania across the Baltic Sea were severed by what EU investigators believe was an act of sabotage by a 225-meter Chinese bulk carrier. NATO warships have since surrounded the vessel.

With wars ongoing in Eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East, spillover risks remain elevated, as terror groups, rogue nations, and or just plain bad actors may be intensifying sabotage efforts targeting infrastructure.