CBS' Lara Logan Thought She Would Die During Sexual Assault in Egypt

Chris Hondros/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- CBS correspondent Lara Logan thought she was about to die as she endured a sexual assault in Egypt's Tahrir Square while covering the political uprising in the country.

"There was no doubt in my mind that I was in the process of dying," Logan told CBS News' Scott Pelley in an interview that will air Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes. "I thought, 'Not only am I going to die, but it's going to be just a torturous death that's going to go on forever.'"

Logan, 40, spent four days in the hospital following the Feb. 11 attack, in which an estimated 200 to 300 men separated her from her news crew and bodyguard, surrounded her, ripped off her clothing and beat her.

"For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands," Logan told The New York Times.

She was rescued by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers.

The violence against her unfolded amid jubilation at the news that longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had decided to step down. The uprising in Egypt appeared to have a domino effect by helping to spark political uprisings in other Middle Eastern nations.

Logan, who is the chief foreign correspondent for CBS, returned to work on Wednesday.

"I am so much stronger [now]," she told Pelley, adding she hoped her story would empower other victims of sexual assault, particularly female reporters.

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Lara Logan at Home after Assault in Egypt, Gets Call from President Obama

Photo Courtesy - The Gracies dot org(WASHINGTON) -- CBS News correspondent Lara Logan is resting at her Washington, D.C.-area home with her husband and two children after being sexually assaulted and beaten in Tahrir Square on the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned, a close friend of Logan's said.

According to a White House aide, President Obama called Logan Wednesday afternoon. The White House did not provide details of the phone call, but Press Secretary Jay Carney reiterated that "violence against journalists was unacceptable, and that the perpetrators of violence needed to be held accountable."

Logan, 39, was released from the hospital Tuesday at about 5 p.m., the friend told ABC News.

Logan, CBS News' chief foreign affairs correspondent, was surrounded by "a mob of more than 200 people whipped into a frenzy" on Feb. 11, according to a CBS News statement.

In an interview with PBS's Charlie Rose before the attack, Logan said the Egyptian Army had labeled her and her crew spies.

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CBS News' Lara Logan Out of Hospital after Assault in Egypt

Photo Courtesy - The Gracies dot org(NEW YORK) -- CBS News correspondent Lara Logan was assaulted and sexually abused by an Egyptian crowd last week during the celebration of President Hosni Mubarak's decision to step aside.

Logan, a veteran foreign correspondent, was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for 60 Minutes on Feb. 11 when "she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration," CBS News said in a statement published on their website Tuesday.

"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," read the statement.

Thousands of Egyptians swarmed Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests that night, and the crowds were generally peaceful.

Soon after the assault Logan reconnected with her crew, "returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning," CBS said.

On Tuesday, four days after the assault, she was still "in the hospital recovering." She later left the hospital.

Logan had been detained by Egyptian police just days earlier on Feb. 4 and forced to leave the country. After landing in the U.S. Logan promptly got on a plane and returned to Cairo on Feb. 11, the day she was assaulted.

Logan, 39 and a native of South Africa, has covered war zones for 18 years and joined CBS as chief foreign correspondent in 2006.

She has reported on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has received an Emmy Award, an Overseas Press Club Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for her reporting.

She is the mother of two young children.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio