AMERICAN BROADCASTER CBS has said that one of its reporters in Egypt suffered “a brutal and sustained sexual assault” while covering the political upheaval that led to the resignation of president Hosni Mubarak.

In a statement, the broadcaster said that its reporter Lara Logan was reporting live from Tahrir Square following Mubarak’s resignation last Friday when she and her team were surround “by a dangerous element”.

“In the crush of the mob,” CBS said, Logan became separated from her crew and was swept away in the surge that followed.

“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,” the broadcaster said.

When Logan found her way back to her broadcast team, she immediately returned to her hotel and left the country to return to the United States. She remains in hospital there, CBS added.

The Huffington Post noted that Logan had already been detained by Egyptian authorities, who had initially refused her access to Cairo to cover the protests in the country.

CBS said it had no further comment to add.

Logan, a South African native, became CBS’s chief foreign correspondent in 2006, having been a regular reporter from Afghanistan in the years following the September 11 terrorist attacks.