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The BBC website was offline this afternoon days after hackers warned of an attack if bosses don't reinstate Jeremy Clarkson.

Visitors to the site at 1.40pm today were greeted with an error message that reads "Error 500 - Internal Error" for around half an hour.

The website is now back online.

On Wednesday hackers from the shadowy digital protest group Anonymous threatened to attack the BBC unless the show is reinstated.

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In an open letter published online, a hacktivist threatened to use a denial of service attack (DoS) to bring down the BBC website.

A DoS attack is when thousands of computers are programed to repeatedly access a website, causing an overload in traffic which ultimately shuts the site down.

The BBC error message claimed the reasons could be "abnormal traffic" or "the service or servers" are "not currently available."

(Image: BBC)

A spokesperson denied the website was hacked and said they believe the error was caused by an 'internal system failure'.

They are still investigating the source of the problem.

Almost 10,000 Anonymous supporters have read the letter, which announced the beginning of a campaign called #OpBringBackClarkson

The hacker wrote: "Dear BBC, you don't wanna p** off 300 million people [an estimate of the Anonymous support base].

"You are warned: DDOS cannons will fire if you don't comply.

"Bring back Clarkson!"

The BBC Sport account tweeted: "We're working hard to get the BBCSport website up & running. Stick with us here for goal updates & bbcrugby for sixnations build-up."

The BBC News account also tweeted: "Apologies, as we are experiencing technical problems on the BBC News website. We are working hard to resolve the issues."

(Image: Daily Mirror / BBC)

Jeremy Clarkson threatened to have producer Oisin Tymon sacked before he punched him in the face during a 40-minute rant over a missing meal, his ­disciplinary hearing will be told.

The Top Gear presenter allegedly ripped into his stunned colleague after arriving by helicopter at a hotel from a pub where he had been boozing heavily for several hours with co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond to find no hot food.

He called Oisin a “lazy, Irish c***” before splitting his lip with a punch that left the 36-year-old with blood running down his face and needing treatment in A&E, the BBC investigation will be told.