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LONDON, March 26 (AFP) - Dublin on Tuesday said it was "gravely concerned" by the hasty execution of two Ugandan soldiers for the murder of an Irish priest and two other men.

"We are gravely concerned at the speed of events, at the absence of an appeals process, the carrying out of the sentences with such haste and the lingering suspicions encouraged by this haste," said Liz O'Donnell, a senior foreign ministry official, in a press statement issued to Nampa-AFP in London.

A firing squad on Monday shot dead Corporal James Omedio and Private Abdullah Mohammed just two hours after they were sentenced to death by court martial for last Thursday's killing in northeastern Uganda of Father Declan O'Toole, 31, a missionary, his driver and an employee of his parish.

A senior military officer who Tuesday confirmed the executions in Kotido town added that the soldiers had confessed to the killings during interrogation, and that their pleas for mercy were ignored.

"On learning of the sentence passed, the (Irish) ambassador (to Uganda) was instructed to express our concerns at the speed of the judicial process and its apparently summary nature," said O'Donnell.

She added that the ambassador had sought a meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to request clemency for the soldiers, but that the men were executed before a reply had been received.

The army said the motive for last week's attack was probably robbery, although O'Toole's watch and wallet containing foreign currency were found on him after the murder.

The killers ran away with only a plastic bag containing a few bananas.- Nampa-AFP