Justin Bieber axes Instagram amid war with Selena Gomez fans

Justin Bieber has gone nuclear in his war with fans of ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez by deleting his Instagram account.

Bieberand new friendSofiaRichieposted several pictures of themselves togetherover the weekend.

He responded to negative comments by captioning one photo, "I'm gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don't stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn't be so mean to people that I like."

By Tuesday morning, his Instagram account was gone.

His threat had sparked a heated back and forth with former girlfriend Gomezin his Instagram comments section.

Though the comments were deleted, fans postedscreengrabs online.

"What I said was selfish and pointless,"Gomez laterposted over a blank screenvia herSnapchataccount.

Bieber hasn't commented.

However,Richie posted viaTwitter Monday that"Justin is not shutting out his beliebers. He's thankful everyday for y'all, y'all got him here.. He doesn't forget that.. Period."

Richie is the daughter of singer Lionel Richie and is the sister of former reality star Nicole Richie.