MOSCOW (REUTERS) - Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the assault rifle that has killed more people than any other firearm in the world, died on Monday at 94, Russian state news agency Itar-Tass reported.

Kalshnikov, who was in his 20s when he 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, the agency cited a spokesman for the province's president as saying.