An Indonesian military aircraft with seven people on board crashed in a residential area in the capital Jakarta on Thursday, an air force spokesman said.

"A Fokker aircraft with seven crew members on board has crashed. The aircraft was conducting training and there were no passengers aboard. It fell on a military housing complex," spokesman Asman Yunus told AFP.

"The victims have been sent to a hospital," he said, declining to confirm whether any were killed.

Metro TV showed footage of a thick cloud of smoke rising from houses which were ablaze, reporting that the plane had fallen on between six and eight homes.