The government and LTTE traded charges that they were using civilians as human shields and not allowing refugees to flee the areas where the fighting was taking place. The rebels had offered a twelve hour truce so that civilians could move out of the combat zone. but the government rejected this as an LTTE ploy to enable their troops to move into better positions without being fired on. In the capital, police arrested 22 Tamil men and accused them of being part of a planned suicide campaign.