Military analysts here characterized the attack as an almost perfect operation and one of the most damaging guerrilla raids in the seven-year-old war.
It was one of the worst defeats for the army in the seven-year-old war.
The port was captured by Iran in 1986 in its seven-year-old war with Iraq.
Its forces had shot down a contra resupply plane, a rare event in the seven-year-old Nicaraguan war.
The offensive was the largest in the seven-year-old war against the Sandinista Government, the spokesman said.
Some officials said privately that they suspected Iraq was trying to drag the United States into the seven-year-old war.
The episode served to highlight two of Baghdad's many concerns in its seven-year-old war with Iran.
The seven-year-old war between Iran and Iraq has made the meeting tense.
Last weekend, Liberia's seven-year-old civil war suddenly exploded again, this time with a fury nobody had foreseen.
The rebels said the raid was the beginning of a new offensive in their seven-year-old war.