Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

A explosion in a car near Delhi’s landmark Red Fort, which has
reportedly killed at least eight people, has put the capital and neighbouring
states on high alert.

The cause is still being investigated, but the scale and
location of the blast have revived fears of the urban bombings that scarred
India in the mid-2000s.

The last major attacks in Delhi took place in September
2008, when a series of bombs tore through busy markets in two separate
incidents, killing around 20 people. Those and similar blasts in Jaipur,
Ahmedabad and Bangalore that year were blamed on Islamist militant groups and a
shadowy students’ group.

Those and similar blasts in Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Bangalore
that year were blamed on the Indian Mujahideen – a home-grown militant network
of radicalised young Indian Muslims.

It was a grim year. Reporting for the BBC that September, I
wrote: “Such days are becoming increasingly common in the lives of
Indians. Since October 2005, more than 400 people have been killed in bomb
attacks across Indian cities.”

Since the 2008 Mumbai attacks later that year, which left
166 dead, India has largely been spared mass-casualty bombings in its cities.

This evening’s blast will trigger unease and a sweeping
security response across the capital.

Whether accidental or deliberate, the explosion is a stark
reminder of a more violent decade when bombings were a recurring urban fear.