The dead and injured from the Bali bomb attack have been remembered at Sunday church services across the UK.

Prayers were said as congregations heard how "serious evil" was to blame for the atrocity on the Indonesian holiday island.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is to address the Commons on the Bali situation on Monday, but the political row over whether Britain was warned ahead of the attack continues.

Earlier Buckingham Palace led national mourning for those who died in the nightclub blast by flying the Union flag at half mast.

In North London, the Acting Australian Commissioner Bill Tweddell attended a special mass at St Augustine's Anglican church in Kilburn.

He spoke of how "serious evil was visited on innocent young people in Bali".

Leading the congregation in prayer, Mr Tweddell called for peace in the world and an end to terrorism and oppression.

The priest taking the Mass, Father Anthony Yates, said on Sunday they remembered those who died, were injured or suffering as a result of the act of terrorism.

Prayers were also said for the people of Indonesia.

The Buckingham Palace flag is lowered on rare occasions

Some young Australians living in London were among the congregation.

One young backpacker said it would take Australia a long time to recover from the atrocity.

More than 180 people were killed, up to 30 of them Britons, when bombs ripped through a nightclub on the Indonesian island on 12 October.

Buckingham Palace's Union flag is due to stay at half-mast until sunset on Sunday evening.

Occasions when the flag has been lowered are rare.

These include times of royal deaths, such as Diana, Princess of Wales, Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother and King Hussein of Jordan.

The most recent gesture was made in memory of the victims of the 11 September terrorist attacks in the US.

We did not ignore warnings and I think it is wrong to say that we did

Baroness Amos, Foreign Office minister

The Queen is said the have authorised Sunday's flag lowering, having already sent a message of sympathy to Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

All nationalities killed in the Bali bombings will be remembered at a formal memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral, in London on Friday.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will appear before MPs on Monday to update them on the situation in Bali, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

Mr Straw's statement comes after shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram called for him to address the Commons to end "confusion" over intelligence warnings.

The Foreign Office stressed Mr Straw would be addressing "all aspects of the situation in Bali".

'No specific warnings'

It was first suggested last week that American intelligence sources had alerted the US government to a possible attack on westerners in Bali, and the warning was circulated to the UK and Australia.

At the time, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insisted there were "no specific warnings" but there was "generic threat information" which covered Bali and other islands in Indonesia.

Earlier Foreign Office minister Baroness Amos defended the government's position.

Speaking on Sunday on BBC One's Breakfast With Frost, Baroness Amos said: "We did not ignore warnings and I think it is wrong to say that we did."

But her words failed to quell opposition concerns, including those of Mr Ancram.

Mr Ancram, speaking on the same programme said the US had managed to protect its citizens more effectively than Britain, which was unsatisfactory.

The official service of remembrance at St Paul's cathedral will be held at evensong prayers at 1700 BST on 25 October