Inventor of AK-47, Mikhail Kalashnikov Dies at 94

Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the popular firearm AK-47, which has been used to kill more people than any other firearm in the world, has died aged 94.

The weapons designer who worked for the Soviet Union is immortalized in the name of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.

The AK-47  "Avtomat Kalashnikov" which is estimated to be spread worldwide with over 100 million guns, has been favored by guerrillas, terrorists and the soldiers of many armies ever since it went into production in 1949.

According to BBC, Kalashnikov died Monday in a hospital in Izhevsk, the city where he lived 600 miles east of Moscow.

The automatic rifle he designed became one of the world's most familiar and widely used weapons because of it was simple and cheap to manufacture, as well as reliable and easy to maintain.

Although honoured by the state, Kalashnikov made little money from his gun. He once said he would have been better off designing a lawn mower.

Kalashnikov refused to accept responsibility for the many people killed by his weapon, blaming the policies of other countries that acquired it.

However, pride in his invention was tempered with sadness at its use by criminals and child soldiers.

"It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon," Kalashnikov said in 2008.