By Peter Onyekachukwu 
By Peter Onyekachukwu
Amid wailing and anguish, 27 victims of the deadly attack on Tahoss community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State were buried on Friday in a mass ceremony.
The victims were killed while asleep during a pre-dawn assault on July 15, 2025. Several others sustained injuries in the incident.
On Friday morning, the corpses were conveyed from the morgue to their village for burial, with families and community members overcome with grief.
Addressing mourners, Chairman of Riyom LGA, Bature Sati Shuwa, decried the repeated violence on rural communities in the area.
“People of Bindi-Jebu and the greater Riyom community, we are gathered here today in unspeakable grief, hearts heavy with sorrow, to mourn our brothers and sisters — twenty-seven precious lives cut down in a cruel and senseless act of violence in the early hours of July 15th, 2025,” he said.
“As your Chairman, I stand with you not only in leadership but in deep mourning. I cannot begin to imagine the pain, the silence in your homes, or the weight of these empty spaces left behind. To the immediate bereaved families: no words can truly comfort you, but please know that your pain is ours; your loss, a wound in the heart of all Riyom people,” he added.
He prayed for God’s mercy upon the victims and called on the Bindi-Jebu community to rise again in unity, strength, and hope.
Meanwhile, the state government has blamed security forces stationed in the area for failing to prevent the attack. The Special Envoy on Peace and Security to Governor Caleb Mutfwang, Prof. Chris Kwaja, urged the federal government to withdraw soldiers from all flashpoints in the state and replace them with mobile policemen.