Northern Ireland's First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson said there must not be any retaliation for the attack on an army barracks in Northern Ireland that left two soldiers dead.

"Can I urge all of those who may be angry within the Unionist community. This is a matter to be left entirely with the police and the authorities to deal with. They are capable of dealing with it and they shall deal with it and we must give them our full support."

Loyalist political representatives made a plea to people within their communities not to retaliate.

Frankie Gallagher, from the Ulster Political Research Group, which has links with the paramilitary UDA, said: "The people who carried out this attack have no mandate for their futile actions and their communities, particular the Irish nationalist and republican communities in Northern Ireland must let them know that lour and clear.

"This is clearly an attack on what all communities have achieved so far and an attempt to destroy the peace process itself.

"This cowardly attack has created considerable anger in unionist communities but there must be no retaliatory actions. This situation must be dealt with entirely by the police.

"That includes politicians and civic leaders giving clear and unequivocal support to the PSNI in bringing these criminals to justice instead of scoring narrow party political points."

Local MP for the area, William McCrea, revealed that one of the pizza delivery men was a foreign national.

He added: "Not only were two young men in their early 20s brutally murdered, but also there was a determined and deliberate attack upon the young pizza deliverers as well.

"In fact the gunmen deliberately fired at them to kill them as well. There's nothing but murder in the hearts of theses people, but one thing I can guarantee they will not defeat us, they will not win, but we will see them defeated."