An advocacy group says 19 members of the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, have defected in the Central African Republic where the rebels are being pursued by African Union forces backed by American advisers.

Invisible Children said in a statement late Tuesday that a man fishing on a river bank near Tabane village in southeastern CAR was approached by the defectors who were holding their weapons above their heads on Dec. 6. It says the fisherman contacted the advocacy group who took the defectors in.

The aid group says the defection of nine adult men, four adult women and six children is a blow to the LRA's strength. Invisible Children head Ben Keesey says it is the largest group to have defected from the LRA in five years.