Zayn Malik defends Twitter fight with Louis Tomlinson: 'Why am I being attacked?'

The ex-One Direction star was forced to take to Twitter earlier today to defend a spat he had yesterday with former bandmate Louis Tomlinson.

"Don't know why I'm being attacked for defending myself , people got it twisted! I love my fans ?! Every single one of you x (sic)," Zayn tweeted to his 14.6million followers.

It all kicked off after producer Naughty Boy, who has been working with Zayn on solo material, uploaded a photo to the micro-blogging site of the two of them. The image had a filter used on it, which prompted Louis to take a dig.

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In response Zayn tweeted Louis to ask why he was getting involved.

"@Louis_Tomlinson remember when you had a life and stopped making b***hy comments about mine ? (sic)," he fumed.

The online arguments didn't stop there, with Naughty Boy and Louis continuing to feud in front of their fans.

Zayn announced his decision to quit One Direction in March, leaving Louis, Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Niall Horan to continue as a four piece.

Publically the other boys supported his decision, but yesterday's argument suggests all is not well.

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To make matters worse, Zayn's fans aren't happy with his latest explanation.

"@zaynmalik "I love my fans" sure man, that's exactly what we felt since you decided to go and your new friend started to talk sh*t about us (sic)," fumed @lukelous.

"@zaynmalik you can't talk to Louis like this when all he was doing lately was defend your fans that 'you love' I'm sick of you Zayn (sic)," added @RealShaniZaguri.