MUMBAI: CBS News correspondent Lara Logan was sexually assaulted and beaten by a mob in Egypt‘s Tahrir Square late on Friday.

Logan was flown back to the United States next morning. She is now recuperating in a hospital.

The assault took place whilst she was surveying the anti-Mubarak mood amidst a celebrating crowd after the president had stepped down for a "60 Minutes" story.

CBS said, "In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers."  
     
  Logan had been outspoken about the Mubarak regime‘s efforts to intimidate foreign journalists. She was sent back after she was accused of being an Israeli spy, but came back to Cairo not long before Mubarak fled his office.

She has a long history of working in disturbed areas.

Logan made her name as a war correspondent for Britain‘s GMTV at the beginning of the Afghanistan war in 2001 and later reported on the war in Iraq. She joined CBS News in 2002.

According to the Committee to Protect Foreign Journalists, a watchdog group in which Logan serves as a board member, nearly 140 reporters have been wounded or killed while covering the revolution of Egypt since 30 January.