Niger\'s government spokesman said that 22 prisoner escaped this weekend during an attack on the central prison by suspected militants from the extremist group, Boko Haram, headquartered in Nigeria, Niger\'s larger neighbor to the south. According to AP, Niger\'s Minister of Justice Marou Amadou, the government\'s spokesman, said on national television late Sunday that among the 22 prisoners was a man named Cheibani Ould Hama, a member of al-Qaida. Amadou said that Nigerien authorities are actively pursuing the escapees and over the weekend they opened fire on an SUV with tinted windows which refused to stop at a checkpoint. Two prison guards were killed during the escape.