The Manchester synagogue terrorist rang 999 during his deadly attack pledging allegiance to the terror group Islamic State, police have said.

Jihad al-Shamie, 35, made the call claiming responsibility for the attack after driving his car at worshippers outside Heaton Park synagogue in north Manchester on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur last week.

He then attacked others with a knife and tried to storm the synagogue wearing a fake suicide belt.

Melvin Cravitz, a 66-year-old father of three, was killed along with Adrian Daulby, 53, who is believed to have been inadvertently shot by police as he ran to block the synagogue doors to stop Shamie getting inside.

Shamie, a Syrian-born UK citizen, had not previously been on the radar of counter-terror officers but police now believe he was influenced by extremist Islamist ideology.

Rob Potts, the head of counter-terrorism policing in the north-west, said on Wednesday that minutes after the start of the attack Shamie called 999 to claim responsibility and pledged allegiance to IS.

Potts said: “The attack continued but thanks to the bravery of security staff, worshippers and the fast action of police, the attacker was prevented from gaining access to the synagogue.”

He said the police investigation was ongoing and that while Shamie was on bail for an alleged rape, he was not known to the government’s anti-radicalisation programme Prevent or to counter-terrorism police.

“However, at this stage of our investigation, we are more confident that he was influenced by extreme Islamist ideology,” Potts said. “The 999 call forms part of this assessment. This remains a live counter-terrorism investigation.”

Mourners attend the funeral of Adrian Daulby at the Agecroft Jewish Cemetery in Salford. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

He said the killer had been seen acting suspiciously outside the synagogue shortly before launching the attack. “This was not reported to police because the man walked away when challenged,” he said. “Around 15 minutes later, he returned to the scene in a black Kia vehicle and deliberately drove the car at innocent members of the public before colliding with a wall.

“He then stepped out of the vehicle armed with a knife and resumed his attack. He had a second knife in his possession and was also wearing a hoax device on his person.”

Potts said: “This has been a week of deep trauma and mourning for the Jewish community at a time when they should have been observing one of the holiest periods in the calendar of their faith.”

Three men remain in hospital with serious injuries, including a security guard with car impact injuries and a Community Security Trust (CST) worker with stab wounds.

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Police said some of the four people arrested last week in connection with the attack would be released later on Wednesday, but they did not specify how many.

The Guardian revealed last week that the killer was on police bail for an alleged rape at the time of the attack. It has also emerged that he appears to have had Islamic marriages to three women in towns across the north of England at the same time, fathering two young children with one of them.

Neighbours of Shamie said they contacted police four or five years ago with concerns that a member of his family had been “radicalised” and was attempting to preach the Qur’an to local children.

One neighbour said “everything changed” during the Covid pandemic when Shamie and the other relative started wearing traditional Islamic dress, holding “private” gatherings in the garden and attempting to “preach the Qur’an” on their quiet suburban street.

A neighbour said: “They just started wearing all the robes and everything. I thought [one relative] was being radicalised because he wouldn’t speak to us for a bit. He was coming up the road preaching to kids about the Qur’an. It was quite intimidating. It was intrusive.”

The neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she was “really concerned” and reported it to Greater Manchester police in the summer of 2020 or 2021. “I would never do that if I weren’t [concerned],” she said.

Police said on Wednesday they remained “in the relatively early stages” of their investigation and they appealed to members of the public to contact them directly with any further information.