A 10-year-old boy attending a Japanese school in southern China has died after being stabbed on his way to class on Wednesday, according to Tokyo’s foreign minister, in the second knife attack near a Japanese school in the country in recent months.

A 44-year-old man was in custody, the police said, after the child was attacked Wednesday. Other Japanese schools in China urged caution.

Japan's ambassador to Beijing has asked for more security for Japanese nationals in China after a 10-year-old Japanese boy was killed this week in a knife attack that was the second to target school students.

Some Japanese companies in China have offered to send their staff and their families back home after a 10-year-old Japanese boy was fatally stabbed in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, a Japanese executive and employees of Japanese firms in Beijing said on Friday.

In a call with China’s vice-foreign minister Sun Weidong on Thursday, Japan’s ambassador Kenji Kanasugi “strongly urged” Beijing to share detailed information about the incident, which was the second targeted attack on Japanese schoolchildren in China in recent months.

The killing of a Japanese schoolboy in the Chinese city of Shenzhen has sparked worry among Japanese expats living in China, with top firms warning their workers to be vigilant. Toshiba and Toyota have told their staff to take precautions against any possible violence,

The attack on the 10-year-old boy was the second such incident in months amid a social-media campaign that has stirred up anti-Japan sentiment in China.