Yesterday’s deadly US drone strike against a highway in Yemen’s Bayda Province was followed up by a similar round of separate strikes in the Shabwa Province today, sending the death tolls over the past 48 hours spiraling.

After yesterday’s attack, which killed 21, reports of today’s strikes are still murky, but at least 34 more were killed, sending the figure to 55, and likely to rise even further as the figures continue to come in from remote areas.

Officially, the Yemeni government referred to the slain today as “leading and dangerous” al-Qaeda figures, but tellingly offered not a single name of a single victim of the attacks.

While today’s victims remain a mystery, a number of civilian bystanders were confirmed killed in yesterday’s attack, which targeted a truckload of “suspects” and destroyed some nearby cars.