Pipe Bomb Discovered in UC Santa Barbara Building : Threats: Purported anti-war group also claims responsibility for two similar devices found earlier.

Police found one pipe bomb and evacuated six buildings on the University of California campus Thursday in response to new threats from a purported anti-war group that had claimed responsibility for placing two pipe bombs in the city the previous day.

Agents from four FBI offices in California were sent to the campus to investigate what Lawrence G. Lawler, special agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, called a terrorist situation that could result in deaths.

“I don’t know whether these people understand that,” Lawler said. “None of these three devices have gone off. But even if they’re planning to have these go off in the dead of night, they should realize there are people walking around in the dead of night.”

The FBI official warned that such acts are federal crimes that could, if anyone were killed, result in the death penalty for the perpetrators.

The bomb discovered Thursday afternoon was under a table in the reading room of the UC Santa Barbara library, said Joan Magruder, a campus public information officer. The library, five other buildings on campus and the residence of Chancellor Barbara Uehling were evacuated.

A message signed by The Rite of Spring group was left, and recorded messages featuring a single voice were received Thursday at the campus police station and other university offices. The recordings stated that The Rite of Spring had placed bombs at various locations. By late Thursday, only one bomb--at the library--had been found on the campus and most of the buildings had reopened.

None of the devices have been detonated, officials said.

Several high-ranking university officials also received “threatening” phone calls early Thursday morning at their homes, campus Police Chief John L. MacPherson said.

On Wednesday, police found and disarmed two pipe bombs that were accompanied by notes expressing opposition to the Persian Gulf War. One of the 18-inch bombs with powder explosives was left in front of the university ROTC building; the other was found at the Santa Barbara office of Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura). The Rite of Spring also had claimed Wednesday that it had placed a third bomb at the campus administration building. The building was evacuated, but no bomb was found. Police said they had no information about the group.

Lawler said the pipe bombs recovered were made of galvanized steel that could create “a tremendous amount of shrapnel. There is no doubt they could kill people.”

He said the messages from the perpetrators contain “very difficult logic to follow” when they say they are bringing home the violence of the Persian Gulf War to the people in the UC Santa Barbara ROTC, the library and the campus in general.

Lawler said agents from the FBI’s Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Ventura bureaus, including agents from an interagency joint anti-terrorist task force created several years ago, have been assigned to work on the matter. Among other agencies represented is the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

He added that there were no indications of the existence of the Rite of Spring or any warnings until this week.

The bomb found Thursday was similar to the two bombs discovered Wednesday, a Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said. All three bombs were disarmed by a joint police and sheriff’s bomb squad.

Times staff writer Kenneth Reich, in Los Angeles, contributed to this story.