Taliban insurgents captured a key district just outside Kabul in central Wardak province, forcing government forces to retreat, security officials said on Tuesday.

Afghan security forces mounted an operation to recapture the district on Wednesday, a local official said. Wardak mayor Zarifa Ghafari said that if the district was not taken soon, fighting would reach the gates of Kabul in a few days.

The seizure of Nerkh district comes amid intensifying violence following an announcement by the Islamist group of a three-day ceasefire in Afghanistan for the Id holiday, starting this week.

Tariq Arian, an interior ministry spokesman, said government troops made a “tactical retreat” from the district centre, which is a gateway to Kabul, after a heavy firefight with the Taliban.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, wrote on Twitter that they had killed and captured some members of the Afghan security forces after seizing the district.

He added that they had also seized a large cache of ammunition.