Two nightclubs were targeted in the popular resort

The UK Bali Bombing Victims' Group has criticised Foreign Office policy regarding fatal incidents overseas as "chaotic and insufficient".

More than 200 people, including 26 Britons, died in two nightclub bombings on the Indonesian island in late 2002.

The group wants an improved response if similar incidents occur again.

Foreign Office minister Baroness Crawley, who attended part of the meeting, said she was pleased to have met the victims again.

"Our meeting today gave the families the opportunity to gain some insight into the lessons learnt by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office since Bali.

"They also had the opportunity to learn of the improvements the Foreign Office have made and how future improvements can be made.

"This meeting was welcomed by the families and I hope it provided some reassurance that the Foreign Office have taken their concerns into consideration," she added.

Better treatment?

Ahead of the five-hour meeting requested by the families, the group said: "There is no doubt that the chaotic and insufficient Foreign Office response in the early weeks of Bali bombings greatly added to the distress of those UK citizens who had been injured or bereaved."

It hoped the meeting would lead to "better treatment of British nationals in the future if they are unfortunate to find themselves in similar circumstances".

The group had invited representatives of families and survivors from September 11, Lockerbie, Zeebrugger ferry disaster and other tragedies to give impressions of dealing with the Foreign Office.

Policy changes

Members of the group had earlier said they felt like "poor relations" next to the families of those Britons who died in the 11 September attack in the United States a year earlier.

None is entitled to compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, because their relatives were murdered outside Europe.

The victims group speaks for the vast majority of the relatives of the Britons killed.

The Foreign Office has previously denied the allegation that it had treated Bali bomb families differently from the September 11 families.

But it did accept the families' criticisms about the way it responded at the time and said it has already made some changes to procedures.