A second policeman was killed by Mungiki thugs in Dandora, Nairobi, it was revealed yesterday.
His body bearing deep machette cuts was found in a thicket, with three other bodies all bearing from gunshot wounds.
The three were members of the outlawed sect killed in the Wednesday battle with police in the estate, police said.
Their bodies were found as independent investigations by the Nation showed the fighting was triggered by what Mungiki thought was police support for a rival militia attempting to take over one of the most lucrative matatu (commuter taxi) routes in the city.
The Dandora route is believed to be worth up to Sh200,000 ($2,500) a day in levies from the operators.
Police yesterday announced an all-out war on Mungiki and arrested more than 100 suspects who included three women aged 18-20.
One of the policeman who died, named as Constable Edward Mwangi, attached to Runda police post, was hacked to death before his body was doused in petrol and then set ablaze in the chaos.
Police withheld the corporal's name until the next of kin were informed.
Five people who suffered deep machette cuts were last night fighting for their lives in hospital.
Nairobi provincial police boss Stephen Kimenchu said police were yet to recover a G3 rifle stolen from the murdered constable.
They have not established if the corporal was armed or if he had lost his gun to his killers.
Mr Kimenchu said the attack on the officers was unexpected and it had forced them to retreat when the first officer to be killed fell under a hail of machette blows.
Mr Kimenchu said among those held were three people suspected to have ferried the attackers to the estate. Their vehicles had been impounded, the police boss said.
"One of the prime suspects is the man whose picture appeared in the Press early this year who is giving police vital information about the organisation," Mr Kimenchu added.
He was captured on camera in Nairobi last month as Mungiki members declared war on the Government should it carry out its threat of rounding them all up after recent violence in Nakuru and Murang'a where they killed over 20 people.
Initial investigations, he said, had established that the movement was being bankrolled by influential people including tycoons.
He said during the Wednesday operation, police unearthed literature from the houses of some of the suspects which revealed the group was committed to an armed revolution.
"This is a group we have now established beyond any doubt that advocates a violent reformation and since they have killed two of our own, we shall stop at nothing to crush it," he said.
"Some have had friends in some high places but this now does not matter," Mr Kimenchu added.
He displayed some of the weapons recovered from Dandora which included axes, bows and arrows and machettes.
One of the placards seized by police read, "No reformation without conflict."
There were also copies of last year's calendars with pictures of the organisation's spiritual leader Mr Maina Njenga.
Mr Kimenchu announced measures he said would wipe out the group.
They included setting up an anti-Mungiki police squad which will be based at Kasarani and Buru Buru and all-day police patrols of the two areas.
"With immediate effect, no group will be allowed to man matatu termini in the area and vehicle operators have been instructed to ensure that only their drivers and touts will man their vehicles," he said.
Mr Kimenchu said this would help the anti-Mungiki squad identify those flouting the order.
But Mr Kimenchu was at pains to exonerate the police from allegations that the latest round of insecurity in Dandora was sparked by a new police-backed intelligence outfit.
The group, calling itself the Anti-Corruption Investigations Agency (ACIA), like the perennial rivals Mungiki and Kamjesh militias, wanted to take control of matatus operating on the lucrative Dandora route.
It had only operated for a few hours with the assistance of policemen in the collection of "protection fees" on the first day when chaos erupted, according to Nation investigations.
Mr Kimenchu denied his officers were being used by the ACIA to enforcing the collection of levies.
It was also established that some Mungiki leaders held an early morning meeting with a prominent local politician where it was planned and agreed that an attack must be executed on the members of the new group.
The new team notified the matatu operators and Mungiki followers on Monday that it intended to collect a levy from all matatus on the Dandora route.
The notice, dated February 4, states: "In our notice of 03.02.03, we brought to your attention some new developments touching on the management of all Dandora routes.
"We wish to notify you once again that ACIA has fully taken control of the routes. You are therefore advised to pay the route levies only to ACIA agents upon which you will be issued with an ACIA official sealed receipts.
"Payment point shall remain at Dandora Phase 1, and the fees charged would remain at Sh200 per matatu Nissan or matatu mini bus per day.
"By this notice we do appeal for your uncompromising support. We look forward to better working relations."
The Nation established that the new group, which claims to work with the National Security Intelligence Service in investigations, had printed the promised receipts complete with an E-mail address and telephone numbers.
The agency is on the fifth floor of Nacico Chambers, Moi Avenue, and is headed by one Martin Adung'o Adungosi as executive director.
Although Mr Adungosi gave his mobile telephone numbers they were said to belong to "field agents."
Mr Kimenchu who completed his Press conference without mentioning the ACIA group, later admitted he had warned the Buru Buru police boss Njue Njagi not to allow the group to operate before "the matter was deliberated on."
Mr Kimenchu said he had told the same to Mr Adungosi, who, however, "went ahead and started collecting the money on Wednesday."
Tension was high in the troubled estate yesterday, but security was tight to curb a resurgence of violence.
A spot check found policemen patrolling the area in groups of 10, armed with AK47 rifles and sub-machine guns.
Police patrolling Dandora and the neighbouring estates had been instructed to crackdown on all self-styled street gangs who have been pocketing as much as Sh200,000 a day.
The spokesman for the Police Anti-Corruption Unit, Mr Kaplich Barsito, disowned the ACIA saying there was no working relationship between them and the police.
He spoke out as Kanu condemned Mungiki but challenged the Government to wipe out the sect "it once protected."
Director of elections William Ruto said efforts by Kanu when in government to contain the sect was resisted by some MPs now in the Government.
"People in the Government are the very ones who supported Mungiki in Parliament when we were taking action against its activities," Mr Ruto told a news conference at Parliament buildings.