punctuate

It took nearly a decade before that quest finally ended in Pakistan with the death of Bin Laden during a confrontation with American forces, who attacked a compound where officials said he had been hiding.
The manhunt was punctuated by a December 2001 battle at an Afghan mountain redoubt called Tora Bora, near the border with Pakistan, where Bin Laden and his allies were hiding. Despite days of pounding by American bombers, Bin Laden escaped. For more than nine years afterward, he remained an elusive, shadowy figure frustratingly beyond the grasp of his pursuers and thought to be hiding somewhere in Pakistan and plotting new attacks.





What does punctuate mean in this case?

In this case, be punctuated by means be stopped by.

MateuszMoś said:

In this case, be punctuated by means be stopped by.

I don't think so in this case, Mateusz. "The manhunt was stopped by a battle" doesn't make sense.

The other meaning for punctuate is to "stress" or "emphasize," and that's what I believe it means here.

Punctuate also means interrupt. After a year, the manhunt was interrupted by a battle, and then they continued hunting for another 9 years. Now they are done.

In this type construction, "punctuated" usually means "interrupted at intervals" and I wouldn't use it if there was only one interruption as it is in this sentence, i.e. I believe that this is an incorrect word choice in this sentence.
For example, the usual use is:
Her speech was punctuated by coughing. = She coughed multiple times while speaking.

In this case, "punctuated" hardly means "interrupted". Rather - "marked".

Yet at http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/punctuate we see:

vary; interrupt; give structure

The pristine lawn was punctuated only by the single apple tree in the centre.

Of the several opinions registered thus far, I'm in agreement with Myridon's (post #5).

Punctuation generally represents a pause or hiatus in a narrative, following which the narrative continues.
In this example, "punctuate" is being used figuratively.
The manhunt proceeded ... ... there was the Tora Bora incident ... ... the manhunt proceeded.