British victims of terrorism in other countries will be able to claim compensation under a proposed new government scheme announced Monday.

Families who have lost relatives in attacks abroad have criticised the government for not giving them enough financial support and have long called for the creation of a compensation scheme.

The government, which faces an uphill battle to win an election due by June, introduced a proposal to create the Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme into parliament Monday as part of broader anti-crime legislation.

"Terrorism is intended as a political statement and an attack on society as a whole," Justice Secretary Jack Straw said in a statement.

"Therefore it is right that, as a tangible expression of sympathy, society should compensate the victims of terrorist attacks abroad in recognition of the injuries suffered," he said.

The scheme would help people injured in attacks and the families of people killed.

Compensation awards will be calculated according to a tariff based on the seriousness of the injury.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said compensation payments under the new scheme had yet to be agreed but said it would broadly mirror an existing compensation scheme for people injured as a result of crimes committed in Britain.

That scheme pays up to 500,000 pounds in compensation for the most seriously injured.

The new scheme will apply only to future attacks. The government said it would also help victims of attacks overseas since January 2002 who faced financial hardship.

Scores of Britons have been killed in overseas attacks in recent years.

Sixty-seven Britons were among the 2,749 people killed in the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001 and 28 Britons were among the 202 people killed in the Bali nightclub bombings on October 12, 2002.