Attack: CBS News correspondent Lara Logan pictured shortly before she was assaulted in Tahrir Square while she was reporting on the Egyptian protests. There is no suggestion any of the men pictured were responsible for the attack

CBS correspondent Lara Logan was seriously assaulted while covering the Egyptian protests and is still recovering in hospital, it emerged today.

The newscaster was the victim of a 'sustained sexual assault' and had to be saved by a group of women and 20 soldiers, CBS said. 

The mother-of-one had been reporting in Tahrir Square, Cairo, on February 11 - the day President Mubarak stepped down - when she was separated from her crew and surrounded by a mob of 200 people.

'It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy. In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. 

Assault: The married mother-of-one is a veteran war reporter and has covered the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq

'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.

'She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.'

They added: 'There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time.'

South Africa-born Logan is married with a two-year-old son. 

The 39-year-old is an experienced war reporter and is married to Joseph Burket, a U.S. Federal Government defence contractor from Texas, whom she met in Iraq when she was covering the conflict.

She was the only journalist from a U.S. network in Baghdad when American troops invaded the city, and reported live from Firdos Square as the statue of Saddam Hussein was brought down. 

She has also reported extensively from the frontlines of Afghanistan.

Logan, who had previously worked for Britain's morning news programme GMTV, is one of at least 140 correspondents who have been injured or killed since January 30 while covering the unrest in Egypt, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Prior to Mubarak stepping down, the Egyptian military has been rounding up members of the press for their own safety after several were stabbed, punched, kicked, marched back to their hotel by gunpoint or hijacked in their cars.

Pro-Mubarak supporters had blamed the press for encouraging the uprising and publishing pro-democracy views.

CNN's star reporter Anderson Cooper was pulled out of Egypt ten days ago after he was physically assaulted.

Mob: CNN's Anderson Cooper was filmed by his crew as they were attacked by pro-Mubarak supporters in Egypt. He left the country shortly afterwards

Cooper described how he was 'roughed up by thugs' and hit in the back of the head  in the pro-Mubarak crowd, calling it 'pandemonium' and 'out of control'.

ABC's Katie Couric and Christiane Amanpour were also physically attacked.

Miss Couric was said to have been manhandled in the city while Miss Amanpour's car was surrounded by rioters shouting they hated America, though she escaped unhurt. 

A Greek photographer was stabbed in the leg, while the BBC's Jerome Boehm was also targeted by thugs.

Reuters said one of its television crews were beaten up close to Tahrir Square while filming a piece about shops and banks being forced to shut during the clashes.