A Catholic-inspired think tank has accused the Nigerian government of various levels of complicity in the killing of Christians by jihadist forces, while some observers predict Africa’s most populous nation may be on the brink of a “religious war.”

At least 500 Christians have been killed in Plateau State since January according to Intersociety, a democracy and human rights advocacy group founded in 2008. Over the past 14 years, at least 52,250 Nigerian Christians have been brutally murdered at the hands of Islamist militants, according to the group.

The director of Intersociety, Emeka Umeagbalasi, has accused the government of encouraging the bloodshed.

“The level of violence is expected to continue and it has continued to rise because the authorities are fuelling the crisis,” he said.

“The authorities are behind the killings. The authorities have injected the security forces with jihadist bad blood, to the extent that the security forces have left what they are supposed to do and they started going after people who are not lawless citizens,” Emeka told Crux.