"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.