(CNN) -- Five blasts went off in the Nigerian city of Jos Friday night as residents were celebrating Christmas Eve, leaving dead and injured, a regional government official said.
The exact number of casualties was not determined, but an eyewitness said he counted eight dead.
Choji Gyang, a special advisor to the governor of Nigeria's Plateau state, said two bombs went off in the Angwa Rukuba area of Jos. Within five to 20 minutes, three more blasts happened in the area of Kabong, he said.
"We have a lot of casualties and are struggling to cope," Gyang said.
Hassan John, a Jos resident and journalist with the media department of the Anglican Diocese of Jos, had just come out of church about 7 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) when he heard the sound of the first explosion. He rushed to the site, which he described as a beer parlor frequented by locals.
"By the time I got there, there were women crying, people screaming. It was all chaos, people were screaming, blood everywhere".
"I counted eight corpses all over, seven in the building," John said. He added that a second blast went off within a couple of minutes after the first one. "We cannot say if there are more bodies under the rubble because it was dark," John said.
Gyang, who is special advisor on religious affairs to the governor, said it was unclear who set off the blasts or whether they were related. CNN
