Maybe a test run, so they wouldn’t want connections made too soon.
Ramzi Yousef bombed Philippine Airlines Flight 434 as a test. He never called and claimed responsibility for his actions. Luck was with the airliner. It has a different seating arrangement from similar planes. If it had been the standard layout it would most certainly hit the center fuel tank rather than a cargo hold. One passenger died vs the loss of what certainly would have been the entire passenger and crew.