Amnesty International claims it has gathered fresh evidence that the Syrian regime is exacting revenge against communities suspected of supporting opposition groups, the rights groups said on Thursday.

The “revenge” includes a “pattern of grave abuses” in which victims, including children, had been dragged from their homes and shot dead by soldiers, who in some cases then set the remains on fire.

The London-based rights group called for an immediate international response to the violence.

“This disturbing new evidence of an organized pattern of grave abuses highlights the pressing need for decisive international action,” said Amnesty’s Donatella Rovera on release of the 70-page report entitled Deadly Reprisals.

The charity interviewed people in 23 towns and villages across Syria and concluded that Syrian government forces and militias were guilty of “grave human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law amounting to crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

Reporting on the revolt which broke out in March last year, Amnesty described how soldiers and Shabiha militias burned down homes and properties and fired indiscriminately into residential areas, killing and injuring civilian bystanders.

“Everywhere I went, I met distraught residents who asked why the world is standing by and doing nothing,” said Rovera.

The report also accused the regime of routinely torturing those who were arrested, including the sick and elderly.

In the report, Amnesty called on the United Nations Security Council to refer the case to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and to impose an arms embargo on Syria.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 12,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began, most of them civilians.