The suspected attacker was arrested by police officer in Beiliu, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Wednesday. Photo: screenshot of online video

The suspect surnamed Zeng, who killed two and injured 16 in a knife attack in a kindergarten in the town of Xinfeng, Beiliu, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is schizophrenic, the latest police investigation revealed on Thursday.

Two of the 18 victims of a knife attack in a kindergarten in the town of Xinfeng, Beiliu, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Wednesday afternoon have died, according to the local authority.

The rest 16 injured are in a hospital in Beiliu receiving medical attention and their condition is gradually improving, Xinhua News Agency reported.

At about 2 pm on Wednesday, a knife-wielding man broke into the kindergarten and injured 16 children and two teachers. A local official told The Beijing News in the afternoon that two of the children received serious injuries.

China's Ministry of Education (MOE) has required the education department of Guangxi to work with relevant authorities to treat injured teachers and children, and find out the cause of the incident as soon as possible, according to an announcement issued by the MOE on Wednesday.

The MOE urged schools across the country to strengthen campus security to prevent law offenders from entering the campus and to carry out a blanket inspection and rectification to find out security loopholes. 

The health authority in Beiliu organized citizens to donate blood for the victims, the Global Times learned from local residents. A staff at a jewelry store in Beiliu city told the Global Times at about 6 pm Wednesday that there were several blood collection buses parked at a temporary blood donation site in Beiliu, and many residents voluntarily went to donate blood for those injured.

The owner of a nearby shop confirmed the incident and told the Global Times that she was afraid of going out right now because of the attack.

The kindergarten had been transformed from two four-storey residential houses, which are only about 40 meters away from the government building of Xinfeng town, Tianmu News reported.