Evidence collected from the August 5th bombing links the operation to earlier bombings by Jemaah Islamiyah, or Islamic radicals attacking non-Moslem targets. This is a problem because some 15 percent of the population is not Moslem, and many of those that are worship in ways that are denounced by conservative Moslems as non-Islamic. Hundreds of Islamic conservatives have organized themselves into gangs that attack bars, brothels, nightclubs, movie theaters and other "sinful" enterprises. The police have been cracking down on this, to general approval of the population at large.

Fighting continued in Aceh, leaving 17 more people dead, bringing the death toll in the three month war nearly 700.