Four other people - two women, a man and a policeofficer – survived the midday incident with bullet injuries and were rushed to hospital.
According to police, the two men killed were suspected gangsters, adding that a Ceska pistol was recovered from one of them, while two of their accomplices managed to escape.
Business on the normally busy Kimathi Street outside Nation Centre, where the shoot-out occurred, ground to a standstill as police ran after the gangsters who were escaping through adjacent back lanes.
The victims were felled on different spots several metres from where the shooting started, at the Bazaar shopping and office complex at the end of Kimathi Street.
