New details emerge on Lara Logan sex assault in Egypt

New details have emerged about the attack on American TV reporter Lara Logan in Cairo's Tahrir Square: she was stripped and beaten with fists and the poles of hand-held flags.

The Australian newspaper, quoting US sources, reported that Logan, 39, suffered physical injuries when, separated from her crew as they filmed on Feb. 11 — the night Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigned — she was surrounded by a mob of about 200 men "whipped into a frenzy."

The attack went on for up to 30 minutes. Logan's clothes were torn off and the crowd hit her and beat her with poles, the report said, before she was finally rescued by about 20 soldiers and women in the square and taken to her hotel.

She spent five days in hospital in New York.

Parts of her body were covered in red marks, the report said, adding that while they were originally thought to have been caused by bites, were actually caused by aggressive pinching.

CBS News released a statement days after the attack saying that Logan had suffered a "brutal and sustained sexual assault."

South African-born Logan was reportedly recovering in private with her husband, Joseph Burkett, their son and her stepdaughter, but friends reportedly expected her to return to the Middle East.

"Lara is getting better daily," said a friend. "The psychological trauma is as bad as, if not worse than, the physical injuries. She might talk about it at some time in the future, but not now."

The CBS statement released in the days after the attack read:

"On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a 60 MINUTES story when 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 frenzy.

"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. 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.

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

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who escaped serious injury while he was covering the unrest in Egypt, reached out to Logan, who has reported from some of the world's most dangerous places.

"Sickened and saddened by the attack on Lara Logan," tweeted Cooper, 43, adding: "She is in all of our thoughts and prayers.”

Logan was released from the hospital Tuesday late afternoon and resting at her Washington, D.C.-area home with her husband and two children.