The Americans were killed alongside seven Afghan soldiers during an anti-Taliban operation late Friday when a rocket fired by the insurgents struck their Chinook helicopter in Wardak province, southwest of the capital Kabul.
The death toll was given in a statement from Afghan President Hamid Karzai?s office and was not immediately confirmed by the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).
?The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan expresses his sympathy and deep condolences to US President Barack Obama and the family of the victims,? it said.
The Afghan defence ministry said the local troops who died were also special forces.
Twenty-five of the dead were US Navy SEALs, US television network ABC News reported. The Pentagon declined to comment on the cause or number of deaths. The strike was by far the worst to hit foreign troops since American and other international forces invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban in 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
The previous biggest death toll saw 16 American soldiers killed in 2005 when a Taliban rocket hit their Chinook in the eastern province of Kunar.
One man who said he witnessed Friday?s crash, Mohammad Saber, told AFP that the helicopter plummeted during a late-night operation in his village.
?At around 10:00pm last night (1730 GMT), we heard helicopters flying over us,? he said.
?We were at home. We saw one of the helicopters land on the roof of a house of a Taliban commander, then shooting started.
?The helicopter later took off but soon after taking off it went down and crashed. There were other helicopters flying as well.?
Wardak provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said the crash happened in Sayd Abad district during an operation against Taliban insurgents who have been waging war on pro-government forces since being toppled from power in 2001.
?The US chopper that crashed last night was shot down by the Taliban as it was taking off,? he said. ?A rocket fired by the insurgents hit it and completely destroyed it.?
He added that the helicopter had broken into several parts.
The Afghan army commander for the region, General Abdul Razeq, also said the helicopter was ?shot down by a rocket fired by the enemy.?
A spokesman for Isaf said it would issue a statement ?at an appropriate moment.?
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgent group was responsible for shooting down the helicopter, which he said was an American Chinook, and acknowledged that eight insurgents had been killed.
A Western military source speaking on condition of anonymity also confirmed the helicopter type.
Chinooks are widely used by coalition forces in Afghanistan for transporting large numbers of troops and supplies around the war zone.
Elsewhere in eastern Afghanistan Saturday, Isaf said another helicopter made a ?precautionary landing? in Khost province, near the border with Pakistan.
A spokesman added that no-one on board was killed and there were no reports of serious injuries. There were no reports of insurgent activity in the area at the time.
The latest deaths take the total number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 342, according to an AFP tally based on the independent website iCasualties.org. Of those, 279 were from the United States.
There are currently about 140,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, around 100,000 of them from the US.
Some troop withdrawals have already begun as part of a process which is due to see all foreign combat forces leave the country by the end of 2014, although the Taliban are still waging a bloody insurgency.
US special forces play a key role in the war against the Taliban and other insurgents by hunting down and killing fighters in targeted night raids.
Separately, Afghan civilians may have been caught up in a Nato air strike against suspected Taliban insurgents, a foreign military spokesman said Saturday, amid claims up to eight civilians died.
A local official said that an imam, his wife and their six children were killed by an air strike in Nad Ali district in southern Afghanistan?s Helmand province Friday.
Explaining what happened, district governor Shadi Khan said: ?A group of Taliban attacked a foot patrol of Nato forces.
?Subsequently, an air strike targeted the house of an imam of a mosque in the area. As a result the imam, his wife and six of their children were killed.?
A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Kabul said foreign troops had been to discuss the incident with local elders.
?A coalition patrol was attacked by insurgents armed with RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and small arms fire in Nad Ali district,? the spokesman said.
?The coalition forces responded with small arms fire and they continued with an air strike against the positions of insurgents.
?Shortly after the engagement, Isaf learned that civilians had been held captive by insurgents and may have been present during the strike.?
Helmand provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi said he was ?aware that there have been some civilian casualties as a result of a Nato air strike in Nad Ali district? and that an official delegation had been dispatched to investigate.
Special Correspondent from Washington adds: President Barack Obama Saturday mourned the deaths of American and Afghan soldiers who were killed when the helicopter in which they were going on a military mission in Afghanistan was reportedly shot down.
In a statement, he said: ?The deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan.?
His statement did not confirm the death toll or other details of the worst-ever aerial incident in Afghanistan.
?We will draw inspiration from their lives, and continue the work of securing our country and standing up for the values that they embodied,? Obama said, adding , ?I also mourn the loss of seven Afghans who died alongside our troops in pursuit of a more peaceful and hopeful future for their country,?
Obama, who learned of the incident at the Camp David retreat, said his thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who died.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai sent his condolences to Obama, according to a statement issued by his office.
Taliban claimed to have brought the helicopter down with a rocket attack.
Nato officials in Afghanistan said they were trying to determine the details of what happened, but they acknowledged there was ?enemy activity? in the area.
The toll surpassed the worst single-day loss of life for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 - the June 28, 2005 downing of a military helicopter in eastern Kunar province. In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while they were attempting to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban.
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