Top CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan suffered a "brutal" sexual assault at the hands of a mob in Egypt while covering the downfall of president Hosni Mubarak, her US network says.
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"She and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into a frenzy," CBS said in a statement on Tuesday.
"In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7310639n
"> View her last report on CBS News here
The incident took place on Cairo's central Tahrir Square last Friday, the day Mubarak stepped down, CBS said.
Logan was flown to the United States the next day.
"She is currently in the hospital recovering," the statement said.
South African-born Logan has covered the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, becoming one of the US media's most recognisable war correspondents.
She became CBS News chief foreign correspondent in 2006.
Logan and two colleagues were detained by the Egyptian military 10 days ago.
Earlier videos of Lara Logan:
A CBS News internal memo obtained by television industry site TVNewser said on the day of their release, February 4, that the three journalists were being sent back to Washington via London.
She travelled back to New York and told The Charlie Rose Show on February 7 that she was desperate to go back.
She returned to Egypt in the middle of last week, New York Daily News reported.
Before her detention on February 2, Logan filed a video piece on a dramatic shift she observed in the Egyptian military's stance towards the media.
"It was literally like flipping a switch, the army just shifted dramatically to a much more aggressive posture," she said.
"When our crew went out to film beauty shots early this morning, with no idea that the situation was now different, they were confronted by soldiers and plain clothes agents, they were armed, [the crew] were intimidated and bullied and in fact marched at gunpoint through the streets all the way back to our hotel.
"[It was] a very frightening experience and one that was repeated throughout the day for us because everywhere we went we were approached by people.
"We were accused of being more than journalists, very frightening suggestions were being made. Suggestions that really could be very dangerous for us."
Logan said they were essentially "trapped" in their hotel.
"We can go out without cameras but even then we're being watched everywhere we go and being confronted, people don't hesitate to come up and start questioning you and we're definitely being prevented from telling the story," she said.
Georgina Robinson and AFP
