Britney Spears has been claimed dead in her own Twitter page, after hackers got into her account and posted a fake message.

The pop singer's Twitter page was targeted by hackers on Saturday. One announced her death to her two million followers, saying: "Britney has passed today. It is a sad day for everyone. More news to come."

After the fake tweet, the rumor quickly spread across the Internet.

A Twitter statement made by Britney's representatives soon after said: "Britney's Twitter was just hacked. The last message is obviously not true. She is fine and dandy spending a quiet day at home relaxing."

This is the second time Spears's Twitter page had been hacked this year. TMZ reports that in January, pranksters posted a series of vulgar "tweets" using her account.

The social networking site's executives have shut down part of the service as they tried to uncover how the system was being hacked.

(Xinhua/Agencies July 2, 2009)