A bloody hostage crisis in the diplomatic zone of Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Friday left 20 innocent victims dead. This was apparently a xenophobic attack as the victims were mostly foreigners, including nine Italians, seven Japanese, two Bangladeshis, one American and one Indian.

According to reports, the terrorists chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is [the] greatest) during the attack and treated hostages differently based on whether they could recite verses from the Koran or they were Bangladeshis. The terror attack was triggered by hatred of foreign forces and non-Muslims.

The Islamic State (IS) soon claimed responsibility for the massacre, but actually the latest attack didn't show the usual characteristics of IS terror attacks, which are mostly rapid and cruel, with no differentiation of targets.

The Dhaka incident has more features of the international Jihadist movement that has clear targets and inclinations, and it occurred in the context of Jihadist movement resurgence sparked by the IS rise. According to Bangladeshi police, the attack was launched by the local Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Despite the IS presence in Bangladesh, it is having difficulties expanding.

First of all, terrorism in Bangladesh hasn't spiraled out of control. No more than 10 people were killed annually by Islamic extremist movements from 2007 to 2012.

The number started rising in 2013, with 379 deaths in 2013, 60 in 2014 and 56 in 2015. This year 38 people died by the end of June, but the number, in addition to the latest deaths, is much lower than in 2013. In fact, Bangladesh ranks relatively low in the global terrorism index. 

Domestic religious extremist organizations in Bangladesh will repel the IS as they have set up enormous network that naturally boycotts foreign extremists. The JMB claims to have 5,000 hardcore members and around 100,000 part-time activists, and have training bases in 63 out of 64 counties and cities across the country, including Dhaka. These organizations don't operate very frequently and are hence hard to follow the suit of the IS.

Moreover, Bangladeshi society is more secular than other states where the IS operates. There have been conflicts between religious fundamentalism and secularism, with the former included in the constitutional amendment.

But after assuming power, the incumbent government began phasing out fundamentalism and in 2010 declared Bangladesh to be a secular country, making secularism a significant, if embattled, force nationally.

Bangladesh now sits at a critical stage where various forces are fighting with each other and it needs massive support from the international community.

The secularization of Bangladesh has conflicted with the rise of religious extremism in the world, which leads to frequent occurrence of terror attacks in Bangladesh. Recently extreme violence against secularists, atheists and minority religious groups appears to be growing, including the murders of bloggers and broadcasters.

Meanwhile, the perpetrators are mostly well-educated people from rich families, which is a worrying sign that rising extremism may even overwhelm secularism in Bangladesh.

Against this backdrop, the domestic conflicts in Bangladesh are spreading beyond its borders and become part of international conflicts between religious extremism and secularism.

If the former gets the upper hand in Bangladesh, it will surge across the region and threatens other countries. If extremism suffers a setback in Bangladesh, it will set an example for other countries.

In this sense, international society has to step up its support for Bangladesh and bolster the growth of secular and moderate forces in the country.

Since China has good political and economic relations with Bangladesh, it serves China's interest to support Bangladesh in security issues. China needs to continue to buttress Bangladesh's social and economic development in a bid to enhance the position and clout of secular forces in Bangladesh. Besides, security building should be highlighted in promoting China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative.

China's security industry has to go abroad and help strengthen other countries' anti-terror capacity. China also needs to push forward the international anti-terror cooperation, particularly cross-border cooperation, so as to build an information-sharing mechanism. 

The author is deputy director of Center of South Asian Studies, Fudan University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn. Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion