June 6, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24,1423

MEGIDDO JUNCTION (Israel), June 5: Megiddo, where 18 people were killed in a suicide bomb blast on Wednesday, is the Hebrew name for Armageddon.

It is the place of biblical prophecy where some Christians believe the world will come to an end.

The latest in a wave of bombings struck a place whose very name conjures up images of disaster.

Scholars believe that when the ancient Greeks translated the Bible, they turned the words “Har Megiddo”, the Hebrew name for a dusty hill in Israel’s Jezreel Valley, into “Armageddon”.

There, according to the New Testament’s Book of Revelations, the final battle between good and evil will be fought. Some Christians believe it will herald the end of the world.

Megiddo has a troubled past. The old fortified city was the site of battles involving ancient Israelites, Canaanites and Egyptians and features prominently in the Old Testament. —Reuters