US Capitol riot: Security officials say rioters came 'ready for war'

US Capitol security officials blamed Tuesday intelligence failures for the deadly assault on January 6 and said that the rioters came to Washington "ready for war". 

In the first congressional hearing on Senate on the attack, security officials pointed that there were not even "remote" and "improbable" chances of a probable violence by the assessments made by intelligence officials. 

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"No entity, including the FBI, provided any intelligence indicating that there would be a coordinated violent attack on the United States Capitol by thousands of well-equipped armed insurrectionists," said the US Capitol Police's then-chief Steven Sund. 

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Sund also said that the officials had prepared for a protest, but not "a military-style coordinated assault".

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sent a report to the US Capitol Police that the rioters arrived in Washington "ready for war". 

In the testimony,  police chiefs and the House and Senate sergeants told the Senate how they were outnumbered by armed and coordinated attackers. 

Washington's acting police chief Robert Contee said his cops were literally "fighting for their lives" on the day of the assault. 

The assault on the US Capitol that left five people dead including one police officer drew condemnation from across the world.

Sund, House sergeant-at-arms Paul Irving and Senate sergeant-at-arms Michael Stenger were the top officials who resigned after the incident.