SANAA – Security forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh shot dead seven pro-democracy protesters in Yemen's second-largest city Taez on Tuesday, witnesses said, after 21 were killed as a long-running sit-in in a central square was smashed.

Deadly clashes also erupted in the Yemeni capital on Tuesday, shattering a truce between loyalist troops and dissident tribesmen.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton voiced shock at the use of live rounds against protesters in Taez in a crackdown that the UN human rights office said had already killed more than 50 people since Sunday.
Fierce fighting erupted in the capital Sanaa before dawn between troops loyal to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh and fighters loyal to Yemen's most powerful tribal leader Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, an AFP correspondent said.
A plume of dark smoke rose into the sky over Ahmar's compound in north Sanaa, witnesses said.
There were also heavy exchanges between his tribesmen and loyalist troops around the headquarters of the military police and the official Saba news agency, as well as in a major thoroughfare in the Yemeni capital, AFP correspondent said.
Three of Ahmar's fighters were killed in the clashes, a medic said. There was no immediate word of any casualties on the loyalist side.
Saleh's government accused Ahmar's fighters of breaking the truce which the tribal chief announced on Friday after four days of ferocious clashes.
Five were killed in central Taez, witnesses said. Others clashed with police while trying to enter the city, leaving two protesters dead.
Witnesses said that security forces were attempting to prevent anyone from gathering in Taez on Tuesday, firing on those who tried to do so, AFP reported.
Medics had earlier confirmed that at least two people had been killed.
Protesters have since January been calling for the departure of Saleh, who has been in power since 1978.
The Tuesday deaths came after security forces smashed a four-month-long sit-in in Taez, killing 21 protesters.
Security service agents backed by army and Republican Guards stormed the protest against Saleh in the city's Freedom Square, shooting at demonstrators and setting fire to their tents, protesters said on Monday.
“At least 20 protesters have been killed,” one protest organizer said.
Global powers have been pressing Saleh to sign a Persian Gulf-led deal to hand over power to try to stem the growing chaos in Yemen, neighbor to the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported.
“The ceasefire agreement has ended,” a government official said on Tuesday adding that tribal groups had gained control of a government building.
On Tuesday, there were three main flashpoints in the troubled country with street fighting in the capital; government troops gunning down protesters in Taiz and a battle with Al-Qaeda and Islamic militants in the coastal city of Zinjibar.
A senior UN official condemned the violence by Saleh's forces, but the wily veteran has defied calls from global leaders, elements in his own military and tens of thousands of Yemeni protesters to end his nearly 33-year-rule which has brought the state close to financial ruin.
More than 200 demonstrators have been killed nationwide since the protests in Yemen first erupted in late January. Scores more have died in armed clashes between loyalist troops and dissident tribesmen.
Photo: Anti-government protesters shout slogans during a demonstration to demand the ouster of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the southern city of Taiz on May 31, 2011. (Reuters photo)