Indonesian security forces stormed airports, glitzy hotels, passenger ships and the Jakarta Stock Exchange building on Sunday in a massive antiterrorism drill in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

About 7,000 policemen, soldiers and emergency-response workers took part in the exercise held in six major cities, including the capital, Jakarta, and on the popular resort island of Bali.

Rear Marshall Panji Utomo, the operations assistant of the Indonesian Air Force Chief, took part in the antiterrorism exercise.

"We took lessons from terrorist attacks abroad, so we are holding a special joint antiterrorism exercise between the police and the military."

Indonesia has been hit by a string of deadly suicide bombings targeting Westerners in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

Similar drills were held on Bali, which has suffered suicide bombings in 2002 and 2005 that killed more than 220 people, many of them foreign tourists.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last month's militant rampage in the Indian city of Mumbai, which left more than 160 dead, highlighted the need to remain alert.