"they assaulted" is a valid and usable phrase in written English.
You might use this phrase in a sentence like, "The babysitter reported that the children had assaulted each other in the backyard."
They assaulted her for nearly three hours.
When they got tired of that, they assaulted themselves.
"I think more than three times they assaulted me.
If they assaulted the govt. would it collapse?
As they assaulted him, they cried "Leftie", "traitor" and "Arab whore".
For the whole of the next day they assaulted us both.
"And in that alley nearby, they assaulted him, presumably as a result of his cursing at them".
They assaulted another militia at a seaside base here this week to rescue a woman who had been abducted.
It is alleged that they assaulted the police, and that the officers had to use their truncheons.
They had stolen bicycles and pedalled from the barracks to Cambridge where they assaulted women at 2am and 8am.
They assaulted three other police officers, threatened them at gunpoint and bound and gagged them during the escape.
