Libyan fighters clashed with Muammar Qadhafi loyalists armed with rockets outside the ousted leader's hometown of Sirte on Friday, a military spokesman said. "(Qadhafi forces) shot at us with Grad missiles. There are battles near the river," spokesman Ahmed Bani said by telephone. The coastal town of Sirte is one of a handful of Libyan sites still held by Qadhafi loyalists. Fighters sent by Libya's new rulers entered another holdout town, Bani Walid, earlier on Friday.