The man who killed one person and injured two others outside a synagogue in Manchester, England, called British police during the attack to brag about the killings and pledge allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Syrian-born Jihad al Shamie allegedly rammed his truck into a crowd gathered for Yom Kippur at a synagogue last week, got out, and began stabbing Jewish congregants. Altogether, two people were killed and three were injured in the attack before he was shot and killed by police. Police later admitted that one of those killed and one wounded was from police bullets. During the attack, al Shamie called 999, the United Kingdom’s version of 911, and bragged about the attack, swearing allegiance to the Islamic State group.

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“I have killed two Jews in the name of the Islamic State,” he told police, according to the Sun.

The call explains why British police labeled it a terrorist attack almost immediately after he was killed.

The revelation comes as the trial for two men accused of conspiring to commit an Islamic State-inspired shooting against the Jewish community in Manchester began on Wednesday. Sir Stephen Watson, the Greater Manchester Police chief constable, said there was no link between the conspiracy and al Shamie’s attack.

Despite his pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State group, police still believe he was a “lone wolf” with no tangible connections to the group, according to the Sun.

During the attack, witnesses told the outlet that he shouted, “This is what you’re going to get for killing our children,” seemingly a reference to the war in Gaza.

Other details have emerged about al Shamie since the killing, portraying him as a loner who had become increasingly zealous during the COVID-19 pandemic. He reportedly married a white British convert in May 2022, while he was still married to someone else. He also pursued other women on dating apps, one of whom accused him of forcing her to watch “extreme” videos and later stalking her.

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Manchester has undergone a major demographic transformation over the past few decades, which has created pressure in the area, similar to many cities across the U.K. and Europe. The area where the attack occurred is dominated by a majority-Jewish neighborhood situated right next to a majority-Muslim neighborhood.

Manchester was also the site of one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the U.K.’s history, when an Islamic suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured over 1,000 at an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017. The attacker, Salman Abedi, was of Libyan descent and in contact with members of Libya’s Islamic State group affiliate.