The suspect in a deadly explosion near a primary school in a southern city died in the subsequent blaze which killed at least two people and injured 44 others, police said yesterday.

The blast in Guilin City in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region happened at around 7:10am yesterday as students were arriving at Balijie Primary School in Lingwu County, according to Guilin's publicity department.

A man and a woman were killed outright, and another 44 people were injured, Xinhua news agency reported. More than half of the injured were students with other victims including two toddlers and a number of adults who were either accompanying students to school or were passersby, Xinhua said.

As of last night, two of the injured were in a critical condition, doctors said.

After police checked video footage captured by surveillance cameras, they identified the rider of a three-wheeled motorcycle as a suspect. The motorcycle caught fire and exploded when it was passing the entrance to the school, according to the website of People's Daily.

Police said the suspect, without identifying gender or age, died at the scene. A Xinhua reporter saw a body lying at the site, which had been cordoned off by police.

Some of the school's classrooms were damaged in the explosion and classes were suspended.

A stationery store owner surnamed Qin said she was helping a student who wanted to buy a notebook when the explosion happened.

"The student asked me to get the notebooks. I was just turning around when it exploded and window glass shattered everywhere," Qin told Xinhua.

A man surnamed Chang, who suffered leg injuries, told the news agency that he had taken his daughter to school earlier than usual because of the school's flag-raising ceremony yesterday morning.

"When I saw my daughter off to the school gate, the blast happened behind me," he said. His daughter was uninjured.

"First, the motorcycle caught fire and then exploded with a tremendous noise that could be heard from far, far away," a witness told Xinhua.

Motorcycles were scattered around the blast site and the windows of nearby cars and stores were shattered.

Liu Shun, a grade-nine pupil, was being treated in a hospital near the school for skin injuries. He said he and another student were just few steps away from the school gate when a vehicle that was passing by suddenly exploded.

"I felt the shock and I felt heat and pain all over my body," Liu said. His companion was transferred to a downtown hospital with severe wounds, he told China News Service.

Liu Yuping, deputy director of the 301 Hospital near the school, said they treated 14 of the injured, including a 10-year-old boy who suffered a broken leg. Ten people had been allowed home, while two severely injured patients were transferred to another hospital.

Safety inspections are to be conducted across Guilin in a search for illegal explosives, the city government said.

The school provides nine-year compulsory education to children of local villagers and migrant workers, China News Service reported.