AK47 inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov dies, aged 94

Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK47 assault rifle, the world's most popular weapon, has died aged 94.

The gun - whose name stands for Avtomat Kalashnikov and the year it went into production - is favoured by guerrillas, terrorists and the soldiers of many armies. An estimated 100 million are spread worldwide.

Kalashnikov died on Monday in a hospital in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurtia republic where he lived.

He once aspired to design farm equipment. But even though his most famous invention sowed death instead of crops, he often said he felt personally untroubled by his contribution to bloodshed.

"I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence," he said.

Alhough the AK47 is not especially accurate, its ruggedness and simplicity are exemplary: it performs in sandy or wet conditions that jam more sophisticated weapons such as the US M-16.

"During the Vietnam war, American soldiers would throw away their M-16s to grab AK-47s and bullets for it from dead Vietnamese soldiers," Kalashnikov said in July 2007 at a ceremony marking the rifle's 60th anniversary.

The weapon's suitability for jungle and desert fighting made it nearly ideal for the Third World insurgents backed by the Soviet Union, and Moscow not only distributed the AK-47 widely but also licensed its production in 30 other countries.

The gun's status among revolutionaries and national-liberation struggles is enshrined on the flag of Mozambique.

Kalashnikov, born into a peasant family in Siberia, began his working life as a railway clerk. After he joined the Red Army in 1938, he began to show mechanical flair by inventing several modifications for Soviet tanks.