Commentator suggests Iraq remains broken

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LONDON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A longtime Middle East correspondent and award-winning reporter says the deadly bombing in Baghdad Sunday suggests violence in Iraq will likely continue.

Patrick Cockburn, who has reported on the Middle East for decades, wrote Monday for British newspaper The Independent that the suicide bombing killing an estimated 147 people Sunday illustrates the immense security challenge that remains in Iraq.

Cockburn suggests that despite the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq cities, suicide bombings are an effective terrorist tactic that have been deployed since 2003. Cockburn says despite the blast, likely perpetrated by an al-Qaida cell or other militants seeking to destabilize the country, Iraq's fundamental challenge for long-term security remains the government's inability to establish a power-sharing agreement.

Cockburn also suggests that Iraq is also faced with neighboring countries that benefit from its ongoing instability and that decades of war have hampered political and economic reconstruction efforts.