‘666’ to trigger another terrorist attack in US?

Another terrorist attack on American soil could be triggered by the so-called "devil’s number" when the calendar registers 666 on June 6, 2006, a website warned yesterday.

The bohemian website Infowars.com said it could happen in Chicago, noting that Chicago has the zip code 60606, similar to the numerical format of the omen-laced date.

Six-six-six is widely known to represent the "mark of the beast" or the devil in the Bible.

The website, which keeps track of mystical number combinations, cautioned that the terrorists could
target the Sears Tower in Chicago, which surpassed the World Trade Center in New York as the tallest building in the world in the 1970s. The World Trade Center collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001 after terrorists believed to be Islamic militants crashed two commercial planes into the Twin Towers.

The Sept. 11 attacks, or 9/11, was the worst terror attack against the United States that included two other suicide missions also involving commercial planes.

Numerologists also fear a major disaster will occur on June 6.

But while bad omen is tied with this rare number combination, in the Philippines it could mean one other thing: luck in lotto.

As early as 10 a.m. yesterday, the four-digit 6666 and six-digit 666666 combination were sold out at lotto outlets all over the country as enthusiasts of this game of chance came in droves to place their bets.

Text messages also circulated yesterday about the 666 phenomenon, saying its calendar counterpart happens only every 100,000 years.

The meaning of 666 has long been the subject of debates. Apart from the interpretation that it is the mark of the beast as it appears in the Book of Revelations, the numbers have been attributed to the antichrist and linked to the Roman emperor Nero, Hitler and even Saddam Hussein, the fallen dictator of Iraq.

Despite its ill meanings, 666 for lotto players could still mean good luck, believing it to represent God’s number as in Hebrew interpretation.

It is believed by some that 216 is God’s number, and that this is the product of the multiplication of 6 x 6 x 6.

"Its a battle between bad luck and good luck, but I believe good luck will prevail," a lotto fan said. — Perseus Echeminada