The funeral of a British soldier who was shot dead by paramilitaries at a Northern Ireland army base will take place today.

Sapper Mark Quinsey was one of two young squaddies gunned down during an Real IRA ambush outside Massareene Barracks 11 days ago as he took delivery of a pizza.

The Birmingham man (23) died alongside colleague Sapper Patrick Azimkar (21) just hours before they were due to leave Antrim on assignment to Afghanistan.

His funeral will be held today at Immanuel Church on Highters Heath Lane in Highters Heath in his English home town at 2pm.

Tributes for Sapper Quinsey have continued to pour in following the news of his tragic death, with his peers in the military describing him as a “charismatic and affable” soldier.

He had been in the Army for four years and had qualified as an electrician from the Royal School of Military Engineering in Chatham. The young militaryman had served with 38 Engineer Regiment in both Ripon, Yorkshire, and Northern Ireland and had been deployed on a number of training exercises across the UK.

Most recently, in 2008, he attended the intensive class one electricians' course, which he completed with flying colours.

He was eager to put his recently gained trade knowledge to use and he was looking forward to the operational challenges that Afghanistan would offer.

Lieutenant Colonel Roger Lewis, Commanding Officer 38 Engineer Regiment, described his death as “devastating”.

“Sapper Quinsey was an outwardly calm, resolute and motivated young soldier,” he said.

“A social live wire and hugely popular across the regiment, he was rarely away from the centre of the action.

“We were expecting him to play a vital role maintaining the living and working conditions of British soldiers serving in southern Afghanistan.

“Tragically, he has been denied this opportunity.”

Major Darren Woods, Officer Commanding 25 Field Squadron, said his death had dealt a heavy blow to the squadron, many of whom have already deployed to Afghanistan.

He added: “To lose such a charismatic young soldier in the prime of his life has been a tragedy of immeasurable magnitude.”

Sapper Quinsey’s funeral comes five days after that of Constable Stephen Carroll who was the first PSNI officer murdered by terrorists. He was buried last Friday after being shot dead by the Continuity IRA in Craigavon just two days after the soldiers’ murders.

Meanwhile, police were yesterday granted five more days to question a 31-year-old man in connection with the barracks shootings.

On Monday the PSNI had already been given an extra five days to question three men — aged 41, 32 and 21 — who were arrested on Saturday over the murders of the two soldiers.