Inventor Of AK 47 Riffles Dies At 94

Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the assault rifle that has killed more people than any other firearm in the world, has died at the age of 94.

Kalashnikov, who created the AK-47 just after World War Two, died in his home city of Izhevsk, near the Ural Mountains, where his gun is still made.

He had been ill for some time and had been in intensive care since November 17. 

Kalashnikov, a Russian peasant with little formal education, designed the eponymous rifle in 1947  - with the letters AK-47 referring to 'Kalashnikov's Automatic' and the year of its release.

But the rifle and its variants soon became the weapons of choice for dozens of armies and guerrilla groups around the world.

Specifically engineered to work in the harsh conditions in which Soviet troops operated, it became one of the most successful weapons ever produced and turned its inventor into one of the most lauded men in the Soviet Union.

But the gun, cheap, efficient and easily mass-produced, soon became synonymous with killing on a sometimes indiscriminate scale. 

It was taken up by militants as far afield as Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, Sudan and Gaza, to name a few. Osama Bin Laden was repeatedly pictured with the deadly weapon.

There are an estimated 100 million Kalashnikovs, one for every 70 people in the world. The gun is in official service in 55 countries and adorns several national emblems.

Its vast popularity was partly down to the fact its design was never patented, so it was widely ripped off.

It also became prized for its sturdy reliability in difficult field conditions.

The 205-year-old Izmash factory, which makes the weapon and is seen by Russians as a national icon, always complained that its potential income was hit badly by the 'pirated' versions of the designs made abroad.

But Izmash has also suffered from dwindling demand and a failure to make up for this with foreign orders - a problem plaguing many specialised post-Soviet industries.

Born in a Siberian village as the 17th child of family on November 10, 1919, Mr Kalashnikov had a tragic childhood during which his father was deported under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1930.

Wounded during combat in 1941, he designed his rifle in 1947, driven by Soviet defeats in the early years of World War II at the hands of far better armed German soldiers.

In October 1941 in fierce battles around Bryansk he was heavily wounded and shell-shocked. He reportedly first conceived of the weapon while recovering in hospital.

Despite the lethal legacy of his weapon, Russia lavished Mr Kalashnikov with honours including the prestigious Hero of Russia prize for designing the iconic rifle.

The inventor had said he had never intended for it to become the world's most popular weapon.

'I created a weapon to defend the fatherland's borders,' he said during an award ceremony at the Kremlin to mark his 90th birthday.

'It's not my fault that it was sometimes used where it shouldn't have been. This is the fault of politicians.