Straw criticised over Bali bombing

Jack Straw faced damaging new criticism today over the Bali bombing as it was revealed that the Government failed to make full use of intelligence available to warn Britons of the risk.

A report from the Government's intelligence and security committee this afternoon revealed new details of the
danger signals flashing in the US, Australia and across the world only two days before the outrage.

It is believed to cover allegations from the US that the CIA gave Britain information Islamic terrorists could plan to attack nightclubs on the Indonesian island of Bali.

The attack in October left more than 180 dead or missing, including more than 30 Britons. Mr Straw repeatedly denied that the Foreign Office failed to act on the information available. Another Foreign Of fice minister, Baroness Amos, dismissed the charge as "irresponsible".

Today, in a statement to the Commons, the Foreign Secretary was forced to concede that the warnings could and should have triggered an earlier and stronger alert to Britons in Bali to leave and to others to stay away.

Intelligence sources said the warning was "rather precise", focusing on only six named "hotspots" out of the 6,000 islands that make up Indonesia.

No10 insisted at the time that the intelligence information available was only

"very general".