Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was illegal because a decision to go to war should have been made by the United Nations Security Council, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in an interview shown by the British Broadcasting Corp.

``I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter from our point of view,'' Annan said in an excerpt from the interview broadcast by the BBC. From the Charter's point of view it was ``illegal,'' he said.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, whose government sent 2,200 soldiers to the Iraq conflict, said in reaction to Annan's comments that the legal advice at the time was that the action over Iraq was legal.

The invasion of Iraq in March 2003 began without the support of the UN. Three of the Security Council's five permanent members, China, France and Russia, opposed the war. The regime of Saddam Hussein was overthrown in April 2003.

``The legal advice we had, and I tabled it at the time, was that the action was entirely valid in international law terms,'' Howard told radio 6PR in Perth. ``That was the legal opinion we obtained from the relevant people in Australia. There had been a series of Security Council resolutions and the advice we had was that it was legal.''

The U.K. Attorney General made the government's position on the legal bases for the use of military force clear at the time, the BBC cited an unidentified Foreign Office spokeswoman as saying in London when asked about Annan's remarks.

Iraq Lessons

``Painful lessons'' have been learned by the international community since the war in Iraq, Annan said in the interview with the BBC World Service, according to the BBC's Web site.

``It's best to work together with our allies and through the UN,'' Annan said, according to the BBC.

Credible elections planned for January in Iraq won't be able to take place unless security in the country improves, Annan said, according to the BBC. At least 47 people were killed in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, by a car bomb on Tuesday, the latest in almost daily attacks on Iraqis.

Australia has 850 soldiers serving in Iraq. The U.K. has 8,900, the second-largest contingent behind the U.S., which has 135,000 soldiers in Iraq.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 15, 2004 23:59 EDT