CBS Reporter Lara Logan Sexually Assaulted In Egypt

As Egypt celebrated Hosni Mubarak’s departure Friday , a journalist became a target: CBS reporter Lara Logan was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted.

The network has released a statement, presumably with Logan’s permission:

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.

Some media outlets were apparently carrying the story as early as Sunday — CBS may have waited for the go-ahead from Logan. It’s disturbing that Egypt’s joy turned to sexual violence, and tempting to want more details. Like, for instance, whether the Egyptian army — which in an interview the night before her attack, Logan accused of detaining her, blindfolding her, keeping her in “stress positions,” and beating her driver — were really the heroes the CBS statement makes them out to be. As of now, though, those details aren’t forthcoming, and we’re left to wish Logan the swiftest possible healing process possible under these disturbing circumstances.