Two British soldiers have died after being gunned down in a surprise attack by suspected IRA dissidents at a military barracks west of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The soldiers were attacked while they and two other soldiers were paying a pair of Domino's Pizza employees who had just delivered food to the Massereene army barracks in Antrim, Northern Ireland on Saturday night.

While the soldiers were interacting with the delivery men, they came under attack from a car carrying two men armed with assault rifles. At least one of the gunmen got out of the car and shot the victims again at close range as they lay wounded on the ground.

The four men, including the two delivery men, who survived the attack, remain in hospital with serious wounds.

Police Chief Derek Williamson said the callous attack killed two young army engineers who were due to ship out to Afghanistan.

"It's clear from what we know at this stage that the terrorists not only wanted to kill soldiers who were there last night but also tried to kill those two pizza delivery men. That indicates to me the ruthlessness of this attack," Williamson said.

Police said they found a car abandoned in nearby Randalstown that they believe was used by the attackers. But they reported no arrests.

The dead were the first British soldiers killed in Northern Ireland since February 1997.

The attack followed recent warnings that dissidents would target civilians who did business with the army, following in the footsteps of the defunct IRA which, for decades, reserved the right to kill anyone who worked or directly supplied the police or the army.

While it appeared designed to inflame tensions in the region, British Protestant and Irish Catholic politicians said the attack would not undermine a 22-month-old coalition between the two sides and they blamed IRA dissidents for the violence.

"We will not be diverted from the direction which Northern Ireland has taken," said First Minister Peter Robinson, Protestant leader of the coalition, who cancelled a planned 10-day trip to the United States after learning of the attacks.

He called the attack "a futile act by those who command no public support and have no prospect of success in their campaign."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "the whole country is shocked and outraged at the evil cowardly attack."

"I assure you that we will bring these murderers to justice," he said. "No murderer will be able to derail a peace process that has the support of the people of Northern Ireland. We will step up our efforts to make the peace process one that lasts and endures."

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said "we had all hoped that senseless violence was a thing of the past."

"Violence has been utterly rejected by the people of this island, both north and south. A tiny group of evil people cannot, and will not, undermine the will of the people of Ireland to live in peace together."

Prior to the attack on the soldiers Saturday evening, the British Army's surveillance unit had been watching IRA dissidents it believed were plotting a bomb attack or assassination in the lead-up to St. Patrick's Day.

Northern Ireland Police Chief Constable Hugh Orde told The Associated Press last week that dissidents posed their greatest threat to the public in the seven years that he has held Belfast's top policing post.

IRA dissidents have opposed the long-term peace efforts in Northern Ireland and the 1997 ceasefire that came five months after the last killing of a British soldier in the country.

From 1970 to 1997, the IRA killed nearly 1,800 people in efforts to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom and into the Republic of Ireland.

With files from The Associated Press